ABHISHEK JAMUNKAR - THE HEALER

Abhishek is a graduate physics student. He writes for the joy of writing and providing a unique perspective towards ordinary instances of life. He believes reality, as we experience it, is a set of beliefs; while acknowledging that this itself is a belief.

The Healer
​

​I boarded the train the other day. It was mostly empty. I was heading north-east, wanted to spend some time in the natural vegetation, away from the crowd. I was alone in the compartment, weird, right? The trains aren't that empty nowadays. Anyway, I should be happy about that, my solitude starts from the train itself. Suddenly, a lady entered the compartment, dressed in a reddish-pink saree. She must be in her thirties, don't see any ring on her finger, and no Mangalsutra either; I guess she's unmarried. Is it my lucky day or what? Things just seem to be getting better because she is checking me out from a corner of her eye. I don't know what to take of it, better not do anything stupid, and I might get lucky tonight. Wait, what's that perfume, lavender? Yuck, I hate lavender. Never mind. I decided to start the conversation, Isn't that's what we are supposed to do? Make the first move?
 
Me: "Hi. I am Sigmund".
 
She: "Urvashi"
 
Me: "Urvashi? The celestial nymph?".
Oops. What did I just say? Fuck.
 
Urvashi: "what's a nymph?"
 
Ohh, Thank god. She would have slapped me if she knew what it meant.
 
Me: "Ah, nothing, it is just an old compliment, very old actually, from the Indian mythology."
 
Urvashi:  "Oh. Aren't you from the west?"
 
Me: "Yes, so?"
 
Urvashi:  "You know more than I do about Indian mythology."
 
Me: "That's because I have watched Mahabharat."
 
Urvashi:  "I see."
 
Me: "So, how do you spend most of your time?"
 
Urvashi: "I am a healer."
 
Hmm, a healer? What's that supposed to mean. Couldn't she just say a doctor, or a medical practitioner, or therapist? What's a healer? Is she a shamanic guru or what?
 
Me: "What kind of healer exactly? can you elaborate?"
 
Urvashi:  "I heal people from repressed contempt and rage for society. In lower-class society, almost everyone has some or other form of childhood experiences that result in building up of unconscious hatred for higher social class people. This unconscious contempt manifests as different conscious desires that, when turned to action, will disturb the higher class people giving a kind of satisfaction to the individuals who hold the contempt.
 
Me: Ah.
 
Urvashi: We often see people from the lower class, or even middle class, doing things that are considered forbidden or disgusting by society. What these individuals really want is exactly what society gives them, which is attention, disgust, and hatred. We hear cases of rapes, murders, mass shootings. Often, these individuals are people who have no history of any previous crimes. We feel disgusting, we tell ourselves that these people are cheap, they all deserve to die. But we fail to acknowledge why they could have done it. We just think, 'Were they not aware that these crimes are punishable? Did they really think they would just get away with everything they'll do? Maybe they were drunk to the extent that they didn't know what they were doing. Why do these people drink so much that they can't control their own actions? We blame it all on things like alcohol and heat at the moment. But that's only part of the truth.
 
Me: I see. Truth has multiple levels. The deepest one is unknown.
 
Urvashi: And it depends on an individual how much he is able to discover. The truth I have discovered is that there are no culprits; we're all victims of the circumstances we go through. The individual who commits a crime is often aware of the consequences of his actions, but it's the resultant of many different factors like the alcohol that gives him courage, the heat at the moment aroused due to thinking pattern, the unconsciously repressed contempt that fuels the desire, and the opportunity to commit the crime of course. In reality, we have much lower control over ourselves than we think. Even something like free will, which is quite obvious to everyone that it exists, has been an object of debate for a very long time, and both the sides which support and oppose the existence of free will have presented some deep insights. It is unlikely that the debate is getting over any sooner.
 
Me: Oh, really?
 
Urvashi: Yes. And then another thing is entropy. Entropy is a fundamental law that governs the universe. It gives direction to the arrow of time. Now some scientists have begun studying this law in non-physical systems. And they have observed that this law is valid even in the non-physical system. Meaning that entropy is a non-physical phenomenon. Entropy says that disorder will arise naturally out of order in a system. If we apply that to social systems where laws are trying to create order in the system, we will find that the crimes committed by the individuals are like disorders that are favored by the entropy. In fact, they are inevitably going to arise sooner or later in the system. It means the culprits are even bigger victims of the circumstances. First, they suffer enough that they end up committing a crime, then they suffer the consequences of committing that crime. In that case, we shouldn't hate them so much, the least we can do is to offer some sympathy to such unfortunates."
 
Me: "Wow! And I thought I was good at understanding people. But how is it that you heal people? are you a talk therapist?"
 
Urvashi:  "No."
 
Me: "Then? How do you do it?"
 
Urvashi:  "Repressed contempt and hatred are like pressure building up in a pressure cooker, desperately trying to get out. I provide individuals with a way to release their contempt. I put them in a position where they experience what it is like to feel superior. They experience the freedom of speech and action they don't generally have. The result is, their repressed contempt finds expression through their actions. They also realize that they may be pretty unfortunates, but they are still far better than many others. It is possible that they don't realize this consciously, but unconsciously, they do."
 
Me: "So you ask them to say whatever they want to say or do? or do you show them some kind of documentary explaining they are better than the worst?"
 
Urvashi:  "No."
 
Me: "So then, do you make them meditate or perform yoga to release repressed emotions?"
 
Urvashi:  "Nah"
 
Me: "Do you give them any kind of psychotropic substance?"
Urvashi:  "Never."
 
Me: "Then how do you do it?"
 
Urvashi:  "I adopt one of the lowest and most disgusting lifestyles considered by society. I sacrifice my dignity as a woman, which is a small contribution to the efforts of maintaining law and order in the system."
 
Me: "What!?"
 
Urvashi:  "Yes, I am a prostitute."