Ancient Healing Art Becoming More Popular

Ayurveda is an ancient holistic system of medicine and natural healing from India, and is the oldest known form of healthcare in the world.

We can find historical evidence of Ayurveda in the ancient books of wisdom known as the Vedas, written over 6,000 years ago, of which only a small portion is available to us from that time.

Tibetan medicine and traditional Chinese medicine both have their roots in Ayurveda. Early Greek medicine also embraced many concepts originally described in the classical Ayurvedic medical texts. Ayurveda has been used and practiced throughout the subcontinent, Indonesia and many other countries in the surrounding region for thousands of years, although it was often suppressed during various occupations in those areas.

Recently the western world, particularly Europe and the United States, has become increasingly fascinated with and interested in Ayurvedic medicine.

The Science of Life

The world Ayurveda roughly translates as "The Science of Life." It is merger of two Sanskrit words: 'Ayu' (the root of ayur & ayus ) which means 'life,' and 'Veda' which means a combination of 'science, knowledge and wisdom.'
According to Ayurveda, first noted by the ancient Ayurvedic scholar Charaka: human life is the combination of mind, body, senses and soul.
Ayurveda sees that the senses and the mind work in conjunction with one another and greatly influence our physiology.
Ayurveda is not just a medical system. It sees human beings as an integral part of nature. It believes that human beings should live in harmony with nature just as the animals and plants do, and utilize the laws of nature to create health and balance within. It adheres to this focus in guiding human beings to maintain health by using the inherent principles of nature to bring an individual back into equilibrium with his or her true self.
The ancient texts reveal that Ayurveda was also originally used as a regime to remove obstacles on one's path to Self-Realization. At some point the medical aspects began to take priority over the spiritual forms of healing.
Today, these spiritual aspects of Ayurveda have taken a back seat to the medical focus. As Ayurveda becomes more commercially viable, the spiritual aspects may continue to lose ground. Yet there are a growing number of practitioners who employ these spiritual therapies and find better results than limiting their approach only to the medical, physical realm.
Understanding Ayurveda
Ayurvedic wisdom offers life-enhancing practices as well as herbal medicinal preparations for the health and well being of the whole human being: body, mind, and soul. It is much more than just a system to treat symptoms or physical illness.
Ayurveda describes three fundamental energies that govern our health and well being, and are seen both in our internal and external environments. Called 'doshas' these three energies are known as:
Vata (Air/Wind)
Pitta (Fire/Sun)
Kapha (Earth & Water)
Ayurveda sees these primary forces in a unique combination in every individual, and as relating to the characteristics of our mind and body. Every individual has a unique proportion of these three forces that shapes our nature.
These doshas also have the characteristic of being: movement (Vata), transformation (Pitta) and structure (Kapha). We are all made up of unique proportions of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. The ratios of the doshas vary in each individual. Because of this, Ayurveda sees each person as a special mixture that accounts for our diversity.
Ayurveda gives us a model to look at each individual as a unique makeup of the three doshas (and sub-doshas), and thereby design treatment protocols that specifically address a person's health challenges.
Herbs are often recommended to supplement the nutritional requirements on a regular basis to build and maintain a healthy physiology. As some of the Ayurvedic herbs are now recognized to be the most potent and powerful adaptogens on the planet -- and since stress is now known to be a significant factor in over 80 percent of all illnesses -- these herbs are essential in any health program designed to promote and maintain a healthy human body.
When any of the doshas become aggravated, thereby upsetting the natural harmony for the individual, Ayurveda suggests specific lifestyle and nutritional guidelines as well as specific medicinal herbs to assist the individual in reducing and rebalancing the dosha that has become excessive or out of balance.
Ayurveda goes into great detail to describe the medicinal attributes of many herbs and their correct usage to compliment and hasten the healing process, and to strengthen the body's organs and systems.

Ayurvedic Herbs: Controversy Over Pharma Attempts at Patents2
Growing awareness in the west of the efficacy of Ayurvedic herbs and formulations has led to controversy and battles with the western pharmaceutical companies trying to patent these herbs.3
Only recently discovered in the west, Ayurvedic herbs such as Neem, Ashwagandha, Tulsi, Shatavari, Turmeric, Amalaki and Brahmi as well as traditional preparations such as Triphala and Trikatu have long been known to have significant medicinal value without adverse side effects.
Several pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions in the west have come into conflict with Indian academic institutions and traditional Ayurvedic practitioners over the intellectual property rights of herbal products researched by the western agencies.
The Ayurvedic practitioners have known about the efficacy of such products for centuries, and so contend that they carry precedence with regards to patent rights on such products.
Free Trade Industrial Agriculture Rules Threaten the World's Farmers
Per the World Trade Organization Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement:4

"Indian farmers, traditional practitioners, and traders will lose their market share in local, national and global markets. For example, recently the U.S. government granted a patent for the anti-diabetic properties of karela, jamun, and brinjal to two non-resident Indians, Onkar S.Tomer and Kripanath Borah, and their colleague Peter Gloniski. Yet the use of these substances for control of diabetes is everyday knowledge and practice in India. Their medical use is documented in authoritative treatises such as Wealth of India, the Compendium of Indian Medicinal Plants and the Treatise on Indian Medicinal Plants.

If there were only one or two cases of such false claims to invention on the basis of biopiracy, they could be called an error. However, biopiracy is an epidemic.
Neem, haldi, pepper, harar, bahera, amla, mustard, basmati, ginger, castor, jaramla, amaltas and new karela and jamun have all been patented. The problem is not, as was made out to be in the case of turmeric, an error made by a patent clerk. The problem is deep and systemic. And it calls for a systemic change, not case-by-case challenges. The potential costs of biopiracy to the Third World poor are very high since two-thirds of the people in the South depend on free access to biodiversity for their livelihoods and needs. Seventy percent of seed in India is saved or shared farmers' seed; 70 percent of healing is based on indigenous medicine using local plants."

Obtaining Potent, Efficacious, Organic (Heavy-Metal Free) Ayurvedic Herbs
It has been mostly individual practitioners who procure, grow, dry and prepare these herbs and preparations in an effective, potent manner, whereas commercially available Ayurvedic products have been of substandard quality.
It is only recently that a few companies have started producing high quality organic Ayurvedic herbal products.

Ayurveda Moving West

Clinical practice, research and education in Ayurvedic medicine remain the most authentic in India. However, attempts are being made by westerners to export the essence of Ayurveda to complement their own medical systems, where the pharmaceutical industry and allopathic medicine predominates.

As a result of regulations in medical practice in Europe and America, the most commonly practiced Ayurvedic treatments in the west are massage, dietary counseling and herbal advice.

The NAMA (National Ayurvedic Medical Association-USA) is one of several groups seeking to set standards for Ayurveda in the west.

There are 26 schools in the US and dozens in Europe which are teaching 500+ hour courses for proficiency at Ayurvedic Health Practitioners, certified but not licensed.

In the United States, the NIH NCCAM expends some of its $123 million budget on Ayurvedic medicine research. In addition, the National Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine, established by Dr. Scott Gerson, is an example of a research institute that has carried out research into Ayurvedic practices.

Dr. Gerson has published part of his work on the antifungal activities of certain Ayurvedic plants in medical journals. Other notable researchers on ayurveda in the West include Dr. Bala Manyam, the Maharishi Ayurveda group in Fairfield, Iowa, and Dr. Mano Venkatraman at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Ayurveda is a Recognized Medicine

Ayurvedic practitioners are regularly appointed as an "Honorary Ayurvedic Physician" to the President of India. Every year on the occasion of Dhanvantari Jayanti, a prestigious Dhanvantari Award is conferred on a famous personality of medicine, including a doctor of Ayurveda.

Ayurveda is a statutory, recognized medical system of health care like other medical systems existing in India. Ayurvedic medicines have to be approved, registered and licensed by the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), which governs and recommends policies for the research and development of the system.

In India, practitioners in Ayurveda undergo five and a half years of training, including one year of internship in select Ayurveda medical schools, where they earn the professional doctorate degree of Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery.
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DOSHA IN AYURVEDA

Dosha according to the principle of constitution of the physical body in ayurveda, one of the three vital bioenergies (vata, pitta, kapha) condensed from the five elements, the doshas are responsible for the physical and emotional tendencies in the mind and body and along with the seven dhatus (tissues) and three malas (waste products) make up the human body. The attributes of the doshas and their specific combination with in each individual help determine the individual's physical and mental characteristics, while imbalance among the doshas is the cause of disease.

Vata dosha - Air
The Vata dosha is the most important of the three doshas. This is for two reasons. First, if Vata becomes imbalanced for long enough and sufficiently enough, it can also cause the other two doshas (Pitta or Kapha) to become imbalanced. It can even cause both Pitta and Kapha to become imbalanced. Secondly, Vata is the main driver or mover of the body, including the other two doshas, all the tissues and all of the waste products.
Vata provides the following functions:

  1. All eliminations: fetus, semen, feces, urine, sweat, and a few others
  2. Assists with all the various metabolisms in the body
  3. Controls all of the various movement of body (both physical & mental), including such things as respiration, heart beat, motivation and contraction of muscles, relays all sensory input from the various sense organs to the brain.
Pitta dosha - Fire

The Pitta dosha is associated with fire or heat. Wherever there is transformation, there is Pitta (doing its job). Whether it is in the GI tract, liver, skin, eyes or brain doesn't matter, for these are all locations where Pitta works.
 Pitta provides the following functions: 

  1. Metabolism - at all the various levels from digestion of food to transformation of all other material
  2. Thermo genesis - maintains the proper body temperature
  3. Vision - converts external images into optic nerve impulses
  4. Appetite - the feeling of hunger and thirst
  5. Comprehension - of information into knowledge, also reasoning and judgment
  6. Courage & Braveness - to face the situation
  7. Complexion - gives color and softness to skin
Kapha dosha - Earth

Kapha is the heaviest of the three doshas. It provides the structures and the lubrication that the body needs. These qualities help to counterbalance Vata's movement and Pitta's metabolism. A big, heavyset football play or wrestler is a person with a predominance of Kapha.
 Kapha provides the following functions:

  1. Strength - to perform physical tasks
  2. Moistness & Lubrication - to prevent excessive friction from occurring between the various parts of the body
  3. Stability - to add the necessary grounding aspect to both mind and body
  4. Mass & Structure - to provide fullness to bodily tissues
  5. Fertility & Virility - to produce healthy offspring
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THEORY OF AYURVEDA

The entire science of Ayurveda is based on the 'Five Great Elements' (Panchmahabhuta) theory. These five elements are earth (prithvi), water (jal), fire (agni or tej), air (vayu) and ether or space (akash). Just as in nature, we too have these five elements in us. When any of these elements are present in the environment, they will in turn have an influence on us. While we are a composite of these five primary elements, certain elements are seen to have an ability to combine to create various physiological functions.
 
Ether and air combine to form what is known in Ayurveda as the Vata dosha. Vata governs the principle of movement and therefore can be seen as the force that directs nerve impulses, circulation, respiration, and elimination.
 
Fire and water are the elements that combine to form the Pitta dosha. The Pitta dosha is the process of transformation or metabolism.
 
Finally, it is predominantly the water and earth elements that combine to form the Kapha dosha. Kapha is what is responsible for growth, adding structure unit by unit. Another function of the Kapha dosha is to offer protection. These ratios of the doshas vary in each individual; and because of this, Ayurveda sees each person as a special mixture that accounts for our diversity.
 
Ayurveda gives us a model to look at each individual as a unique makeup of the three doshas and to thereby design treatment protocols that specifically address a persons health challenges.

SCHOLARS IN AYURVEDA

Brahma is said to be the most knowledgeable person in every science subject. Also he is said to be the first former of Ayurveda. He wrote the first book on Ayurveda i.e. Brahmasanhita.
 
'Daksha Prajapati' and 'Bhaskara' were the first persons who got knowledge from Brahma about Ayurveda. There was dominance of rules (Siddantha) in tradition of Daksha and in Bhaskara's tradition treatment (Chikitsa) was dominant. The short description of some of the legends are as follows:
 
BHARADWAJ:
He was the first person who learnt Ayurveda from Indra and educated the mankind.
 
AATREYA:
He was the Guru (teacher) of Agnivesha who created CharakSanhita's original Novel 'Agniveshatantra', and Bhed etc. He was also recognized by the name Punarvasu and Chandrabhag.
 

AGNIVESH:
Agnivesh was foremost among the disciples of Atreya and the author of the Agnivesh - tantra. Agnivesha is mentioned in Sarngaravadi, Aswadi, Gargadi and Tikakitavadi Ganas of Panini's Astadhyayi.
 

CHARAKA:
On the second stratum stands Charaka who was the first man to refine the treatise of Agnivesha thoroughly and enlarge it with his interpretations and annotations. His contributions in this respect were so spectacular that the original treatise in its new form began to be known on the name of Charaka himself instead of the original author.
 

DRUDHABALA:
Drudhabala, son of Kapilabala and resident of Pancanadapura reconstructed the Charaka Sanhita, which was deficient in its one-third part e.g. 17 chapters in Chikisitaasthana and entire sections of Kalpa and Siddhi. He completed the Sanhita in these respects by taking relevant materials from several treatises (then available).
 

BHAAV MISHRA:
Bhaav Mishra, the son of Latkan Mishra is the writer of this Novel. He was a Brahmin by cast. Keeping similarity to ancient Sanhitas, he introduced new thoughts and Dravyas. It is the last and important Novel of Laghutrai.
 

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ORIGIN OF AYURVEDA

Ayurveda dates back an estimated 5,000-10,000 years and is widely considered to be the oldest form of health care in the world. It is understood by many scholars that knowledge of Ayurveda spread out from India and influenced the ancient Chinese system of medicine, Unani medicine, and the humoral medicine practiced by Hippocrates in Greece. For this reason, Ayurveda is often referred to as the "Mother of all healing".
 
MYTHOLOGICAL ORIGIN OF AYURVEDA:
The mythological origin of Ayurveda has a link with Brahma, the God of Creation. Hindu myth holds that Brahma wanted to ease the suffering of human by offering knowledge of Ayurveda to other Gods. One of those deities was Dhanvantari, who then transmitted the knowledge to mortal sages. Hence, Ayurveda is viewed as a divine science of revelation and thus values personal insight as much as empirical observation.
 

DEVELOPMENT IN AYURVEDA:
The initial phase of development of Indian medicine are traced back to India's Indus River civilization that flourished from about 2700 to 1500 B.C. Mythico-religious hymns associated with this civilization were written down in Sanskrit in the form of Vedas. Out of these Vedas, Atharvaveda; the youngest one contain many references to medical lore.
 
Ayurveda flourished from around 800 B.C. to A.D. 1000, its so-called golden age. The three most important treatises in Ayurveda appeared during the golden age and are referred to collectively as the Senior Triad: the Charaka Samhita, the Sushruta Samhita, and the Ashtanga Hridaya Samhita. The next important treatises in Ayurveda are the Madhava Nidana, the Sarangdhara Samhita, and the Bhava Prakasha, known collectively as the Junior Triad. The Samhita means compilation or collection.
 

LATER DEVELOPMENT IN AYURVEDA:
Before Ayurveda began its recent renewal in the West, it went through a period of decline in India when Western medical education became dominant during the era of British rule. Ayurveda became a second-class option used primarily by traditional spiritual practitioners and the poor. After India gained its independence in 1947, Ayurveda was recognized as an official form of medicine along with allopathic, homeopathy, naturopathy, unani, tibb, siddha and yoga therapy. In 21st century Ayurveda spread throughout the world and it is said 'Ayurveda revisited'.
 

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