The Realm Of Ayurved - VIII

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THIS is good enough for us to believe that the knowledge of Ayurved in ancient times had a massive body of textual support. It is obvious from most such references that a good deal of systematic thought-process was involved not just in evolution of Ayurved as a complete science but also as a methodology of research and spreading of the knowledge for the benefit of common people. The reference in Atharva Ved suggests that the science of healing was known to the human society for periods whose timeline cannot be deciphered or calculated accurately. Nevertheless, the comprehehensiveness of the thought appeared to be very scientific. For, the early scholars also followed a thoughtful research methodology in arriving at conclusion on any issue related to human health. One of the most critical points in ancient comprehension -- as per Ayurved -- was that the human body was not a machine but an ecosystem of consciousness. Ancient Ayurvedic practitioners and thinkers knew that the physical human body, all by itself, had little value without what was considered the environment from which it drew its sustenance -- the Mind. The Mind was considered to be the environment whose dimensions and vagaries decided the illness or wellness of the human body. Countless thousands of references are often cited extolling the importance of mind as a factor in human wellness.

 

One of the most famous among those is from the Bhagwad Geeta when Lord Shrikrishna tells Arjun: Mann aiva manushyanaam karanam bandhamokhshayoho ... (Mind is the reason of man’s incarceration or liberation ...) So, when the science of Ayurved talks of Sapta Dhatus, it gives a very detailed consideration to human pathology -- through components such as Rasa , Rakta, Mamsa, Meda, Asthi, Majja, and Shukra. The seventh dhatu-- Shukra -- has been given a unique importance in the Ayurvedic science of human wellness and healing. It is shukra that lends the human being its aura, its vitality, its dynamic persona -- as Ayurved believes. A whole range of thoughts has been dedicated to this aspect of human pathology -- which modern science, unfortunately, does not seem to recognise (or even understand for whatever reasons). We must not fail to take a note of this fine aspect. Delving deeper into the concept of Dhatus, we do realise that Ayurved offers a further and finer detailing of various aspects of each one of those. For example, there are as many as eight (in some texts six) rasas. This finer comprehension of human pathology adds much indepth value to the science of wellness or healing. Text after ancient text is known to lay special emphasis on human body as a complete ecosystem complete with Chetana or vitality as the only force that makes life and living so special and so much possibly divine.

 

Understanding this in depth, quite a few modern scholars have called this unique power “cosmic resonance”. Having converged its entire thought-process into this single-point of understanding, Ayurved also establishes a very core principle of human existence. it insists that the human body (or any living being, so to say) is uniquely endowed with power to correct itself -- which, in medical terms, is called the Immune System. The core idea of Ayurvedic healing, thus, is that when something goes wrong, what is needed by way of treatment is only to extend support to this Immune System that has the power to heal the human body all through internal processing of various divinely-endowed points of assistance. This brought the exponents of Ayurved to a wonderful thought of creating a lifestyle complete with a natural method of dealing with various experiences of living -- which also may include injury of any kind, internal or external, physical or metaphysical. Ayurved, thus, is considered to be a complete science of sculpting human lifestyle in the most unobtrusive manner in total consonance with environment. (To be continued)