There is a common misconception among some that hereditary diseases are unavoidable. Many times, we hear people say things like, “Oh, high blood pressure? Well, my father had it so I’m sure I will too.”

But science tells us otherwise about multifactorial diseases like heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, cancers, obesity, mental retardation and more. According to modern science, it is difficult to determine a person’s risk of inheriting or passing on these disorders due to the effects of other factors such as lifestyle and environment.

Presented below is an excerpt from Sadhguru’s talk with Dr. Sanjeev K. Chaudhry, CEO of Super Religare Laboratories (SRL), during a recent event in New Delhi. As a part of the conversation, Sadhguru touched upon how genetic ailments are viewed in the yogic tradition. The complete conversation can be viewed on YouTube.

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Sadhguru: The body is geared for health. I know your doctor will say there are genetic factors and other things, but I want you to understand, genetics are only information. You can use information to get better, or you can use information to go back into the same cycle. It is up to you. Whether information is empowering  or entangling depends on the way you use it.

Whatever information is there in this body is not entangling. If it was entangling, this life would not have come forth as a new possibility at all. The body has all the information – “my great-great-great grandfather was suffering from this disease.” Such information is there in the body. But this does not mean I must have the same disease. If I make the same mistakes that he did, then yes. I have the information for my reference that all these things have happened, so this is how I must take care.

If I check people in a certain way, I can tell them right away what ailments they will have in the next fifteen years. I will not do it because there are more important things to do. What you are going to do in these fifteen years is more important to me than what the state of your health might be like after fifteen years. Your system is already talking about it. If you are going to get a heart attack at fifty, your body is already talking about it by the time you are thirty or thirty-five. Whether you are willing to listen is the question.

Today, medical science is able to predict a heart attack more than a year ahead of time; they couldn’t do this twenty years ago. And as they observe more parameters, the prediction time is increasing. But still, the observation is all through instruments, not by you. We are forgetting that all these instruments were created by this instrument. If you enhance this instrument, this is capable of perceiving in a certain way. It needs a certain level of work, focus, and dedication; unfortunately, dedication is scarce material. If you enhance your perception, ill health wouldn’t even be a thought on your mind. It doesn’t exist for you.

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Cross-dressing by Brett Jordan