Ayurveda- an Introduction

AYURVEDA

ayurveda is the science or knowledge (veda) ofthe nature of Life (Ayu)

ayurvedais not just a medical system that is practiced by ‘doctors’ it is a wisdom of life and health that can be practiced by all

Ayurveda is the ‘mother’of all healing systems it acceptsall things as medicinal and all things as poisonous

Like a Mother accepting all her children ayurveda accepts all the qualities of life and allthe different healing modalities and explains ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘why not’each and every thing and system works

The ancient Ayurvedic physician- Caraka deﬁnes Ayurveda:“That science, through the help of which, one can obtain knowledgeabout the wholesome and harmfultypes of life, happy and miserable types of life, things which are beneﬁcial and harmful for such types of life, the span of life as well as the very nature of life”

Ayurveda was not inventedLike Gravity it was discovered or revealed to the vision of the rishis or seers

the quality of ‘not originating’ is called in Sanskrit- Anadi it refers to something which is eternal This is the quality of TRUTHThis is what the vedas represent

the buddha practiced ayurveda Bbuddhist monks carried the principles and practice of ayurveda throughout southeast asia

Angkor Wat, Cambodia is the largest religious temple in the world on either side of the main entrance are huge stone sculptures of the gods and demons churning the ocean of milk

the gods or devas pulling on the snake

on the other side the demons or asuras

the Elements

I want to know Gods thoughts ... the rest are details - Albert Einstein

ayurvedauses the ‘metaphorical’ language of the elements to consider the world around us and our bodies and minds with the language of the elements ayurveda evaluates all things relates all things to each other and understands all things

Everything in creation without exception is made upof different combinations of all of the ﬁve elements together

the quantity, quality and proportion of the elementsalways show themselves in the nature of a thing -charak samhita

Lets look at some examples: a desert exhibits the predominance of the ether, air and ﬁre elements

because of the varying climates and conditions all around the worldayurveda advises people to eat locally and seasonally ayurveda was concerned with the balance of the individual with their environment this is the ayurvedic reasoning to eat locally and seasonally

the Law of Karma

Ayurveda in Nature

since we are talking about trees Lets look at a well knownrecent and ongoing occurrence in the local environment of california SUDDEN OAK DEATH

THIS CONFUSION OF CAUSE AND EFFECT STANDS AT THE HEART OF WESTERN MEDICINE AS IT IS PRACTICED IN AMERICA TODAY OUR MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT IN ITS PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE SEEKSTO REMOVE OR PALLIATE THE EFFECTS NOT REMOVE THE CAUSETHIS WAY OF THINKING IS BACKWARDS AND CAN BE HARMFUL

ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONTHE THIRD LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN AMERICA TODAY AFTER HEART DISEASE AND CANCER IS IATROGENIC DISEASE IATROGENIC MEANS : TREATMENT BY A DOCTOR

the Doshas

When the Five Elements are considered in terms of the body they are called the doshas

Vikrutimeans that which ‘covers over’ prakruti

there is the dosha of your prakruti and the dosha of your vikruti If they are the same you are healthy if they are different you are not

One way of considering these doshas is as the very stuff of the universe as it occurs within the human body Vata is energy Pitta is light kapha is materiality each of these can change into the others

another wayto consider the doshas is in terms of the varying typologies of human beings

we have said that ‘ayurveda is not idealistic’rather, it is based on Sama- balance and that balance is different for different individual elemental or doshic types it is the individual not the disease that is at the root of ayurveda

ayurveda seeks to balance the elements of each unique anddifferently composed individualrelative to their ever changing environment this is why your dosha is so important to know

Just as the Sun, the Moon and the Wind are necessary for the regular functioning of the world so are vata, pitta and kapha necessaryfor the regulation of health in the human body -Sushruta

The Cause and Causes of Disease

According to Ayurvedathe original and ultimate cause of disease is avidya-‘ignorance’ also known as prajna apradha

Avidya gives rise to improper feeling evaluations which give rise to wrong thinking which leads to wrong actions Wrong actionscreate all the symptoms of illness and suffering

Ultimately, ayurveda says that we must remove the causethis means we must do away with,remove, overcome and replace avidya with vidya

It is this linking of all suffering to avidya and its removal to vidya that contextualizes ayurveda as a ‘spiritual practice’it is the lack of spiritual realization that is at the root of all ignorance

Yoga and Moksha eliminate suffering absolutely and ﬁnally-Caraka Samhita : IV. 1. 137

Fate and Free Will

Ayurveda recognizes boththe law of karma-fate and free will

ayurveda is based on the law of karma this meansthat fate is taken into account andfree will is taken into account and both are true

Free Will demands knowledge or vidya by means of avidya our choices are limitedwe only think we have free will

one of the ways i learned about fate and free will was quite extraordinary let me tell you about it

if you stand on one foot that is free willnow try to raise you other foot at the same time that is fate

Ayurveda is a sister science of jyotish or vedic astrology traditionally, ayurvedic medicine as well as all the great medical systems of ancient timeswere practiced along with astrology

“No one should call himself a doctor unless he or she was also an a astrologer” -Hippocrates

jyotish is the vedic science traditionally practiced along with ayurveda used to determine those aspects of life thatlie out beyond the horizon of the individual and yet affect him or her

Limitation

on my ﬁrst day of class in ayurveda the teacher said “everything in the world is medicinaland everything in the world is poisonous”

something good for you at one time is not good at another

that ‘context’ is found by taking into account our own elemental make-up andthat of our environment

ayurveda addresses the unique limitations of each person as well asthe unique limitations and qualities of that person’s environment once we knowthese unique and speciﬁc qualities then we can create balance or healthwe must recognize our limitations

the Dynamics of the Elements

‘Like Increases Like and opposites decrease one another’ these are the ‘principles’ of how to remedyanything that is out of balance

one of the unique contributions of ayurveda forunderstanding disease and diet relative to our health is the concept of agni

Agnican get out of balance due to stress or change of any kind: emotional psychological passage of time change of seasons inappropriate food wrong use of the senses wrong use of a thing too much or too little of anything

in our body agni is disturbed by the doshas or elements and if agni is disturbedagni will disturb the elemental makeup they are like two legs of a chair pull oneand the other will move along with it if the agni is very strongit can take much more disturbance from the elements without being dimmed if the elements are overwhelming they will overpower agni

agni can be likened to the ﬁre of digestion if you do not have good agniyou will not have good digestion

ayurvedaalways considers the condition of agni in an individual without good agniany diet will not work nutrition is the relationshipbetween agni and food

‘A person is as old as his Agni’“The span of life, health, immunity, energy, metabolism, complexion, strength, enthusiasm, luster,and the vital breath are all dependent on Agni Agni is necessary for the normal process of digestion and the subtle energy of Agni transforms the lifelessmolecules of food, water and air into the consciousness of the cell” -Charak Samhita

In both body and mindwhatever you do not digest becomes toxic ayurveda calls thisundigested or improperly digested food- ama

Knowledge or Vidya

the Qualitiesof the Environment

Vidya- knowledge and discrimination allow us to tell whether something ismedicinal or poisonous

The principles ofhow to use the elements are these:

“The earth is a very big cooking vessel the Sky is the lid to this vessel The cook called Time puts allmovable and immovable things in to this vessel He takes the ﬁrewood of night and day and lights them up with Sun. He stirs it with ladles called seasons and months and this happens daily” -mahabharata

When diet is wrong what good is medicine? When diet is correctwhat need is there of medicine? – Ayurvedic Proverb

So important is diet or food that the Ayurvedic vaidyas or practitioners of old used to say: “If you will not eat my diet, do not take my medicines”

Ahar or food builds tissues medicinesdo not build tissues

With this in mindlets consider food

In addition to your dosha what is your vikruti? What level of activity are you engaged inwhat are the environmental factors of season time of day time of life?

Any and every food must be considered in contextone of those ‘contexts’ is a person’s dosha

‘dosha’ means ‘error’ or ‘that which goes out of balance or decays’ This is because of their inherent tendency to change every ‘thing’ is in a state of constant change

This ‘change’ tends to happen to each person in a unique way Every dosha and every person is composed of differing combinations of the elements this is why each person needs a unique and individual approach to attain and preserve balance or health

the Doshas . . . again

Let us brieﬂy consider the qualities of the doshasor the elemental make-up of a person as well as the general principles of how to bring about a healthy- balance to the three main elemental or doshic types

The ‘general principles’ of how to bring about balance of the doshas are based on the observed- ‘dynamics of the elements’ like increases likeopposites decrease each other now, keeping this in mind,lets look at the qualities of the doshas themselves:

We can look with more detail at the qualities of the doshas and whatsystems of the body they control

Summary Considerations

“A person is called healthy, whose physiological processes and tissues are in balance, whose digestionfunctions normally, whose eliminationprocesses are working well, and whose Self, mind, and senses remain always full of bliss” -Sushruta Samhita

the ayurvedic/sanskrit word for health is svastha ‘one who is established in the self

The universe is the macrocosm and man is the microcosomthe realization that the universe and and the individual are the same is called ‘satya-buddhi’ or true and balanced intelligence -charaka

Those desirous of a long healthy life which is the means of achievement of dharma (right action artha (wealth and prosperity and sukha (happiness)should give their utmost attention and apply themselves fully to the teachings of ayurveda -charak samhita

let us go forward to dancing and laughter assuming a longer and better life -rig veda

created by: Peter MalakoffCertiﬁed Ayurvedic Practitioner Kalidas Sanskrit University Nagpur, India 2004

There is no end to learning Ayurveda You should carefully andconstantly devote your self to its study. Increase your skill by learning from others without jealousy.the wise regard the whole world as their teacher, while the ignorant consider it to be their enemy. charaka

Ayurveda- an Introduction

by Peter Malakoff on Sep 10, 2011

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