Hyderabad, April 09: Ayurveda, due to its natural, effective and permanent cures for chronic diseases, has gained popularity all over the world in the last two decades.
In spite of all this popularity, the real meaning of Ayurveda is still not very well understood.
I travel around the world to teach original Ayurveda and come across people who have many misconceptions about it.
Most people think Ayurveda is an oil massage or some kind of cleansing program, while others think it is a system that involves a natural spa, beauty and rejuvenation treatments.
I have even found people who told me that Ayurveda is a weight loss program. Kerala massage is the latest synonym of Ayurveda.
Even in India, the birth place of Ayurveda, I get very interesting answers to the question, “What is Ayurveda?”
Many think Ayurveda is some kind of kitchen or home remedies, and others in India say it is herbal medicine which is very slow and not very effective.
I have even encountered people who told me that Ayurveda is homeopathy and a part of Yoga.
The situation in the West is not very different. Ayurveda, like Yoga, has not been presented in its complete form. Just as Yoga has been limited to physical postures in the West, Ayurveda been limited to Vata, Pitta, Kapha.
The reason for this superficial presentation of Ayurveda in the West is that Ayurveda was introduced there by people who were not Ayurvedic doctors/experts.
No doubt they did a great job of making this wonderful science familiar to people, but the real potential of Ayurveda is yet to be explored.
It is time we take the next step and understand Ayurveda at a deeper level. While Vata, Pitta, Kapha play an important role in disease manifestation, their action field is limited to the physical body.
But a human being, according to Ayurveda, is the combination of body, mind, senses, ego, intelligence and soul.
We need to explore what Ayurveda says about the subtle components of a human being. Therefore we need to go beyond Vata, Pitta, Kapha.
Today, most people suffer from problems in the body, but the root cause of the disease lies somewhere beyond the body.
In my practice, I see patients who come with all the advanced scientific investigations they have undergone, but interestingly, all tests are normal.
The blood tests, scans, and different kinds of internal photos taken do not show any abnormality. But the person continues to suffer from pain and various symptoms.
This indicates that the physical symptoms are the manifestation of some imbalance at a subtle level.
Modern research has also proved through a number of clinical studies that our mind, emotions, social relations, behavior and mental stress play an important role both in the manifestation as well as treatment of diseases.
While modern science has yet to discover the mysteries of the human being beyond the body, Ayurveda has given a wonderful explanation about mind, senses, emotions, ego and intelligence and how these subtle components of the human being play an important role in disease manifestation.
Restless mind, an unsatisfied sense, undernourished emotions, stressful relations, false ego and misuse of intelligence can all cause serious disorders in the body.
–Agencies