Ayurveda is an ancient holistic healing system that views disease as caused
by imbalances in the body's doshas, or biochemical energies. Ayurveda aims
to treat disease by restoring balance to the mind, body, and spirit.
Here are some of the ways Ayurveda approaches disease:
Classification
Ayurveda classifies diseases as physical (Sarira) or mental (Manasa), and
then further sub-divides them as endogenous (Nija) or exogenous (Agantu).
Doshas
Ayurveda identifies three doshas, or biochemical energies, that maintain
homeostasis in the body: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. Imbalances in these doshas
are thought to cause disease.
Prakriti
Ayurveda considers each person's constitution, or Prakriti, to determine
how prone they are to certain diseases. For example, people with a kapha
constitution may be more likely to experience kapha diseases like
bronchitis.
External factors
Ayurveda also considers external factors like food, living habits, and
weather as potential causes of disease.
Treatment
Ayurveda uses a variety of methods to treat disease, including herbal
remedies, dietary adjustments, and purification therapies.
Prevention
Ayurveda emphasizes prevention and health promotion, and aims to identify
imbalances before they manifest as disease.
While Ayurveda may be effective for managing chronic disorders, the FDA
does not review or approve ayurvedic products. The FDA has banned some
ayurvedic products from entering the country and has warned that some
contain toxic metals. You should always talk to your doctor before trying
any alternative medical treatment.
Ayurveda has the distinction of being the “oldest medical system known
to man and the oldest and most comprehensive spiritual teachings in the
world”. Ayurveda is based on the principle of maintaining a balance between
the interrelated relationships within the body and mind. It helps the
patient to understand the benefits of knowing their body and mind and to
live in an intimate relationship with nature. Ayurvedic literature has
remedies for age-related diseases like memory loss, osteoporosis, diabetic
wounds, etc. for which no efficient medicine is available in modern
therapy. Even though Ayurveda has a sound literature background, ironically
its share in the global medicinal market is very less (0.5%).
In order to promote Ayurveda in the international market, ayurvedic drugs
should be available in standardized form, which is the minimum requirement
for introducing a product in the Western market. Ayurvedic formulations
should be standardized on the basis of active principle or major
compound(s) along with fingerprints. There as great scope for India to
achieve global leadership of traditional medicinal market through export of
quality products from Ayurvedic medicinal system. This article gives an
overview of Indian traditional medicinal system-Ayurveda. It also
highlights the principle of ayurvedic therapy, current status of Ayurveda,
the challenges faced by Ayurveda in the modern world and the need of
science-based research to overcome its drawbacks.
According to Caraka -"The Science of life shall never attain
finality. Therefore, humility and relentless industry should characterize
your endeavour and your approach to knowledge. The entire world consists of
teachers for the wise and enemies for the fools. Therefore, knowledge,
conducive to health, longevity, fame and excellence, coming from even an
unknown source, should be received, assimilated and utilized with
earnestness".
The upwelling of Ayurveda from its neglected state was contributed
by several brilliant scholars like P. S. Varrier at Kottakkal, Lakshmipathy
in Madras, and Ramnath Chopra from Calcutta. Today Ayurveda emerged as one
of the oldest medical systems which can be considered as Complementary and
Alternative Medicine and also as a whole medical system. Ayurveda is a
holistic approach which gives more emphasis on prevention and encourages
maintaining health by balanced life with right thinking, diet, life style
and herbal remedies.
Every living and non-living entity is constituted by five primordial
principles or mahabhoota Prithvi, Jela, Theja, Agni and Vayu. The tissues
of the body are also composed of these five elements and their derivatives.
This identity of composition is the central principle of ayurvedic
therapeutics which mandates the choice of drugs and food without causing
side effects. Ayurveda is a holistic science of health care with the basic
concept, that the human body is a matrix of “seven dhatus” or basic body
Rakta, Mansa, Meda, Asthi, Majja, Shukra and mainly “three Malas” or waste
products of the body, such as faeces, urine and sweat and “Agni” considered
as the biological fire, performing all digestive and metabolic activities
of the body, and “three life forces or energies” called tridosha “vata,
pitta and kapha”. Any imbalance or disturbance in these basic principles of
the body causes disease. According to Ayurvedic beliefs each person is
unique with a specific Constitution or Prakriti. Constitution is the
combination of physical, psychological and emotional characteristics and
the way the body functions to maintain proper health.
Prakriti is the unique fingerprint of an individual. Several external and
internal factors act upon to change the constitution of the body from the
balanced state. Health is the equilibrium or balance among the tridosha in
the body, and their disequilibrium or imbalance would be the diseased-state
or Vikriti.
According to IMS Health reports the global pharmaceutical market is
expected to reach $1.1 trillion in 2014. The size of the market is expected
to grow nearly $300 billion over the next five years. According to the
World Health Organization (WHO), three-quarters of the world population
relies upon traditional remedies (mainly herbs) for health care (Anwarul
Hassan Gilani, 2005). There is prominent shit from western medicinal system
to the Traditional system not only in developing countries, but in
developed countries too. WHO estimates that, the present demand for
medicinal plants is – US $14 billion a year and by 2050 it would be – US $5
trillion (Aneesh, 2009). Cost effectiveness and fewer side effects are the
added advantage of traditional systems compared with allopathic systems
with harmful side effects and high cost. The Ayurveda and Traditional
Chinese Medicinal (TCM) system are the most ancient traditional medicinal
systems of the world. Due to the increasing demand of the Traditional
medicinal system, WHO is very keen in creating guidelines and standards for
Herbal remedies (WHO, 2002). The Chinese medicinal system gained
considerable ground in the international arena by their research and
science-based approach. Even though Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest
traditional medicinal systems with well documented literature accounts, it
is struggling hard to establish itself in the international market. India
has great opportunities waiting in the areas related to patents and
trademarks. India needs to identify the extent to which Ayurvedic
therapeutics are safe and effective so that it could get wide global
acceptance.
Heavy metal toxicity When 20 ayurvedic medicines purchased from India were
analysed for heavy metal content, 64% contain lead and mercury, and 41%
contain arsenic In some studies it has been found that heavy metal content
has exceeded the legal limits in herbal formulations . According to
ayurvedic texts, emphasize the relevance of heavy metals in their
formulation. Heavy metals are deliberate constituents of traditional
ayurvedic medicines. So, the term ‘contamination’ with respect to heavy
metal will be inappropriate. They are recommended in many drugs because
they have particular biological properties for curing. Toxicity of heavy
metals has been well defined in ayurvedic literature. Specific
physicochemical processes like sublimation, heating, etc. have been clearly
mentioned in order to detoxify the metals. In order to avoid heavy metal
toxicity, proper care should be taken while preparing the ayurvedic
formulation. There are some accidental contaminations like, preparative
contamination and herbs and the minerals used in formulation itself are
contaminated. In such cases it won’t be fair to disrespect the entire
system of medicine. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) should be
implemented more strictly to overcome this situation. Inadequate scientific
data Even though ayurvedic drugs have well literature documentation, it
lacks inadequate scientific data supporting its pharmaceutical properties
and efficacy. Science based approaches should be introduced for the
evaluation of efficacy of the formulations. There is immediate need for
scientific research in order to evaluate the pharmacological parameters of
herbal formulation. Preparing monographs of the medicinal plants used in
ayurvedic formulation will be a scientific reference which includes
description, pharmacology, allergic effects, and bioactivity of the plant.
Even though India has a rich traditional knowledge and heritage, its share
in the international market is very negligible. There is a growing demand
for traditional medicinal system in the present global market. In order to
compete with the global traditional medicine market, India should lay more
stress on standardization and quality proofing of its drugs. It won’t be
an exaggeration if we say; there will be Herbal Revolution by India in the
global medicine market. India has to take up the challenge of leading the
drug and herbal market, and come out as a global leader in the herbal
medicine with inventing and patenting of its treasury and conserving its
rich heritage.
K RAJARAM IRS 21224
On Mon, 2 Dec 2024 at 07:15, Markendeya Yeddanapudi <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
> --
> *Mar*The Fear About Disease
>
>
>
> The only organism in the whole of the Biosphere that, fears and worries
> about disease is the human.
>
> *In free and healthy nature, one actually felt the continuously reassuring
> feeling from nature as part of smelling and sensing besides hearing the
> musical sounds of nature, all of which simply did not allow any fear.
> Actually one smelt and heard health which became the hormonal messages of
> the bloodstream. The cells received the assurance laden hormonal messages,
> the Theism emanating from the air.*
>
> The mechanical paradigm which repudiates all emotions from nature and
> created the alienation of the human from nature, as the scientific approach
> has simply swept away Geography itself from human life.
>
> The continuously changing mattrice of nature, which includes, the gigantic
> vacuum,particles,atoms,molecules,life forms all of which relate and change
> continuously, simply cannot be explained on the basis of the mechanical
> paradigm, because there are simply no isolated causes and effects, but the
> collective waves of the flows of nature, which cannot be put under
> mathematical analysis.
>
> They assert that absolute zero cannot happen in the Universe, as the
> particles, atoms etc interfere, but then can any mathematical
> quantification happen? There also the same particles and atoms interfere.
> The mathematical precision itself is fantasy, totally unreal. After the Big
> bang the Universe has not stopped, to make it convenient for mathematical
> reductionism. A mathematical quantity is static and unchanging, but there
> is no unchanging situation in the universe. Every quantification misleads,
> as quantities do not change on their own. Even when you change it with
> another quantity, that next quantity also has the same property of the
> static.
>
> Theism needs the capacity to join nature and change with naure.It needs
> the awareness of one’s own participation in nature, the basic faculty to
> feel completely, which creates the gigantic hormonal routine into the
> cells, all of which respond. One exhales that Theism into the air which the
> other organisms inhale, triggering their own hormonal communications. The
> hormonal systems of all the organisms of the Biosphere thus fuse, making
> the Biosphere one single organism.
>
> Actually Theism is the great hormonal communication system of the one
> organism; the Biosphere. It is part of the Geography of the earth.
>
> We are trying to be the outsiders of the planet earth, with our economics
> and technology. That ultimate error of living, where one tries to perceive
> with mechanization as the governing lord and call it the scientific
> approach, has created the ultimate chronic blunder of life. One is made to
> perceive, under the paradigm of the machine and not as a participant in
> nature.
>
> Today, thanks to our addiction to technology, we simply cannot trust
> nature. On the TV we find advertisement after advertisement that their
> product is anti bacterial, as though bacteria are our enemies. Every cell
> in your body needs diverse bacteria to make it function and it is the
> bacterium the mitochondrion that ignites a cell with electricity.
>
> Emotions and feelings which make the living of life cannot be quantified
> at all.
>
> So stop counting and fretting and start feeling nature, taking care to
> keep nature free from pollutions, as far as you can.
>
> Unfortunately every university in the world desperately needs psychiatric
> care to free it from the frenzy and disease of mechanization. As it is
> every graduate, PG, PhD etc,is turning out to be a Basmasura as he joins
> the economic activity, which invariably destroys nature.
>
> Now how to convince at least one university in the whole world to start
> the ‘Free Nature Parks ‘where the students feel nature and actually cure
> themselves of the mechanical paradigm fixation?
>
> YM Sarma
>
> Chat GPT
>
> The essay you’ve shared reflects a deeply philosophical and critical view
> of modern human existence and its disconnection from nature, offering
> insights into how scientific paradigms and technology have led to a fear of
> disease, detachment from the natural world, and a mechanistic worldview
> that reduces life and living systems to mere calculations.
>
> The writer contrasts the natural, holistic relationship humans once had
> with their environment, where the experience of nature was deeply
> felt—through sight, sound, and smell—and the body responded hormonally to
> this harmony. In this perspective, nature itself exudes health and
> vitality, offering comfort and reassurance. This perception of
> interconnectedness is described as *Theism*—a communication of life and
> health that flows throughout all living things, tying them together as one
> organism: the Biosphere.
>
> The essay critiques the rise of a mechanical and reductionist approach to
> understanding the universe, where everything is broken down into isolated
> causes and effects, often quantifiable and static. In doing so, it argues,
> we have lost the sense of fluid, ever-changing interconnectedness of the
> natural world and reduced life to cold, detached measurements. The writer
> challenges the idea that disease is something to be feared or eradicated
> through technological means, pointing out that bacteria and other
> microorganisms are vital to life processes, including cellular function.
>
> The piece makes a powerful call for a return to a more holistic, sensory,
> and emotional engagement with nature, free from pollution and the
> mechanistic thinking that dominates much of modern society. It suggests
> that universities, as centers of knowledge and learning, should lead the
> way by creating "Free Nature Parks" where students can reconnect with
> nature, experience its therapeutic effects, and heal from the mental and
> emotional alienation caused by modern technological society.
>
> Ultimately, the essay is a philosophical exploration of the idea that true
> healing comes not from technological solutions or abstract mathematics but
> from reconnecting with the living world in a more intuitive, feeling way.
> It questions the fundamental assumptions of modern science and calls for a
> shift in how we perceive our place in nature and our relationship with it.
>
> To answer the writer’s final question about convincing a university to
> start these "Free Nature Parks": the task might start by presenting the
> benefits of such spaces not only for personal healing but for fostering a
> deeper sense of environmental responsibility. Perhaps the idea could be
> framed within the context of sustainability, mental health, and the need
> for a more integrated understanding of life that includes both
> technological advancement and environmental consciousness.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
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