Swami Satyeshananda says that Vedanta combines the physical, mental and spiritual well being of the human being.
Human personality, generally speaking, has three dimensions: physical, mental (both emotional and intellectual) and spiritual. All the three aspects are inter-related and influence each other in many ways. They are so interlinked that even if one of these aspects is neglected, the personality remains incomplete and therefore needs attention and improvement. We should remember that mental and spiritual aspects of life play an important role in maintaining good health, and good health, in turn, helps one to be mentally and spiritually strong.
Vedanta discusses the subject of growth and health in three dimensions: physical, mental and spiritual.
The Indian sages, our rishis, looked into all dimensions of the human personality, including the body. They studied and discovered the laws governing the human body, its origin, growth and dissolution. They, of course, never thought of the ‘pleasure’ aspect of a body as its paramount purpose but they looked at body as instrument for experiencing higher joys and spiritual states. They asserted that behind the finite mask of man lies an infinite dimension, a spark of divinity.
Moreover, nature has endowed man alone with an organic capacity to realize this profound truth. This is the science of man in depth, the science of man as the atman, the adhyatma vidya or the brahma vidya. The Upanishads declared it as the profoundest science among the various sciences—as the basis of every other science and as universal.
Swami Satyeshananda - is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order at Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi
(Source – an article titled Healthy Body, Healthy Mind and a Healthy Personality in The Vedanta Kesari magazine December 2009 issue.)