Today, when the world is facing this extreme corona crises , we can learn a few very important things from Ayurveda
Holistic Approach
The entire body is well connected, one cannot treat one organ and leave the other organ unaffected. So, a holistic approach is the only way to achieve any cure in the human body. All Ayurvedic medicines have multiple effects on different organs of the body and harm no part of the body in the process of treatment.
Natural
Everything whether it is product or service it is derived right from nature in Ayurveda. Infact, Ayurveda medicine is the next step in the treatment, the first step is always healing the body by itself. Simple things like air, water and earth can also heal the body.
All Ayurvedic medicines are derived from plant and made in Holistic Manner, manually from hand. No Ayurvedic preparation requires heavy machinery or artificial methods. In this way Ayurvedic treatment has zero carbon footprints.
Whole
All Ayurvedic medicines are derived from nature. According to Ayurveda, everything on earth, living or nonliving, has medicinal value. Besides, instead of using chemicals extracted from herbs, the entire herbal part of medicinal value, like fruit, root, stem, etc, is used. The chemical of medicinal importance is balanced by other coexisting chemicals and roughage provided by plant cellulose. This wholeness of Ayurvedic medicine is a contrast to herbal extracts, where a single chemical compound is extracted in hope to produce a faster and better effect. This singling out destroys the possibility of an overall balanced impact of the unique naturally co-existing chemicals.
A singer works with his mouth, a painter works with his hands. But will you get a faster result of you cut out the mouth of a singer or the hands of a painter? Will the hand work faster than?
The effect of a medicinal herb is like the beauty of a flower. How can we appreciate its beauty by dissecting it? We fail to realize the life resides and sustains itself in wholeness and not in fragments.
Disease Eradication
Ayurveda does not aim to treat or subdue the symptoms. For example, impure blood is considered the cause of acne in Ayurveda. Therefore blood purification Therapy is the main treatment for acne and not the application of topical creams.
Ayurveda believes that all treatment comes from inside the body and not from outside. According to Ayurveda, any disease happens only when the body is weak from inside. And any permanent cure can come only when we remove the weakness from inside the body. When the body is strengthened to its natural form, it can fight back the disease and treat itself come on even without any external intervention.
Side Effects
No Ayurvedic Medicine is reported to cause hormonal imbalances or allergies even when used for a long duration.
However, most of the people do not know that this is true only for Herbal range of Ayurvedic medicine. There is another range of medicine which come under rasashastra. Medicines of receptive contain heavy metals like mercury, lead etc. Combination of Mercury and sulphur is highly praised in rasashastra medicine.
However these medicines containing heavy metals can bring severe Side Effects if they are not properly prepared. They can even be fatal if not used properly.
However when used in a right way these medicines can bring immediate improvement in severe conditions like facial paralysis kidney failure extreme fever etc.
Prevention
Ayurveda elaborately describes healthy food and lifestyle to avoid diseases. The motto of Ayurveda is “ to keep people healthy and treat IF anyone falls sick”.
As far as I know, Ayurveda is the most elaborate preventive system in the history of medicine. Ayurveda sees that prevention is a daily task and not something which you do once in a while.
Besides Ayurvedic treatment extends to a wider region and covers much more than only vaccines for health supplements. According to Ayurveda the most effective prevention comes from inside the body. It is a known fact today according to all scientific studies, that stress is the leading cause of 99% diseases. And therefore the most effective prevention in Ayurveda is aachar Rasayan.
According to the tenets of Aacharya rasayana, A person should not get stressed, angry, greedy, jealous, or sorrowful. Avoiding all these negative emotions can help to preserve the the ultimate mental homeostasis which reflects in a complete hormonal balance and nervous balance in the body. And when these two control systems in the body are completely balanced there can be no disease.
Ayurvedic prevention starts from herbs, dinacharya, ritucharya, but it goes beyond the physical dimension to the mental dimension of prevention period and therefore it is a whole and perfect prevention.
Individualistic Approach
All human beings are unique, they have different body types (Prakrati), therefore Ayurveda advocates personalized treatment for everyone.
Ayurveda is a person to describe the park Prakriti or individual body constitution for each person. Each person is naturally susceptible to one range of diseases where as he might never get others. Therefore Ayurveda AIMS for a perfect prevention and a permanent treatment by ascertaining the body type of a person.
It is best to go for the battle when you know the war field. Without knowing your body, any treatment or prevention is like shooting arrows in the dark.
Psychosomatic Approach
Mind rules the body. Many lifestyle disorders like diabetes, hypertension are directly linked to stress.
We have already discussed about aachar Rasayan in previous paragraphs. However aachar Rasayan is the preventive method. Most interestingly, Ayurveda has the most extensive range of treatments for all kinds of mental disorders. Ayurveda underlines the Treatment of the mental base of all diseases through Satvavjaya Therapy.
And it is very interesting to note that shock treatment, music therapy, arts therapy, counselling, meditation, mindfulness et cetera are all discussed as parts of mental treatment in Ayurveda.
Body-Based Treatment
Diseases might be caused by pathogens, but a weak body defense provides the safe harbor to the pathogens. Therefore Ayurvedic Treatment is never focused on the removal of pathogens but enabling the body to prevent or fight against diseases.
For more interesting information on these lines, please check out Ayurveda and Law of Attraction-II
Humanitarian Approach
The word ayu means the duration for which body, senses, mind, and soul come together and form a living creature. Therefore Ayurveda is not applicable only to human beings but also to plants, animals and birds. It Aims to serve all living creatures without any discrimination.
According to Ethics of Ayurveda, no Vaidya or Ayurvedic doctor should charge a consultation fee. All consultation on medical advice should be free of cost to all people. And therefore even if a person is not able to pay he should not be denied medical advice.
And in the case of Ayurveda, even medical advice can help help to treat a person. As he can try various home remedies for Herbal medicines to cure himself. This is a true Holistic Si system which is all inclusive without any discrimination against financial status of the patient.
Even medicines for free for the poor. According to Ayurvedic ancient text, Vaidya or Ayurvedic doctor can keep 1/11th part of all the medicines prepared for the rich. These medicines can be used for the Welfare of the poor people.
Conclusion
In the end, I would say that all knowledge or wisdom that comes with the intention of healing the pain is Ayurveda. It is the science of life and no matter where it emerges and with whatever name, it should be treated with respect. And therefore it is useless to find out which is the best system of medicine. We should try to integrate all healing wisdom across the globe for the Welfare of all living creatures.
Ritucharya 