MAN IN 'COMA' FOR 23 YEARS WAS AWAKE ALL ALONG

PATIENT TRAPPED IN 23-YEAR “COMA” HEARD
EVERYTHING AND WAS CONSCIOUS ALL ALONG

BELGIUM (AP) - A man presumed to have been in a deep coma for 23 years has spoken of his "second birth" after doctors realised that he had been fully conscious all along but unable to communicate. Rom Houben, 46, was paralysed in a car accident that left him in what doctors thought was a persistent vegetative state. In fact he remained aware of his surroundings and could hear medical staff gradually give up hope on him. Researchers using new scanning techniques discovered that his brain was still active, and functioning almost normally.

Doctors trained him to use his right forefinger to express himself on a specially adapted keyboard. His case is being highlighted in Belgium by doctors who are pioneering new ways of understanding coma victims, hundreds of whom around the world could be conscious but locked in paralysis – and, unlike a true coma patient, able to feel pain. "I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me – it was my second birth," Mr Houben tapped out on his custom-built keyboard at the nursing home east of Brussels where he is given constant care. "All that time I just literally dreamt of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt." Mr Houben recalled the terrifying realisation after he came round from his accident when he knew that he had lost complete control of his body – but no one knew that he was fully conscious. "I screamed, but there was nothing to hear," he told the German magazine Der Speigel. "I became a witness to my own suffering as doctors and nurses tried to speak with me until they gave up all hope." Asked how he passed the time for 23 years, he said: "I meditated – I dreamt myself away." Now his bed has been equipped with a book holder above his face so that he can read while lying down.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

To err is human. However learned and intelligent a man may be, he is prone to error and evil. The greatest philosopher should always remember that human nature is apt to make various errors at every moment, especially when we try to judge that which is spiritual and eternal using our empiric knowledge. ... In fact the soul is the proprietor of both the mind and the body. When, by good fortune, the sleeping soul is made to turn back to hear, think of or move towards its original position, the mind and body follow suit till the final objective of spiritual existence is attained. ... There is a wide gulf between mind and spirit that can only be bridged by spiritual cultivation.

Śrīla Bhakti Kumuda Santa Maharaja :
Lecture: "God-realization"
Bhaktivedanta Memorial Library - www. bvml.org/SBKSM/