Healing The Natural Way With Ayurveda

Western perspective of disease verses Ayurvedic perspective on disease

Ayurveda is a traditional holistic healing system native to India and been around for thousands of years. Ayurveda is derived from the ancient Sanskrit language meaning “knowledge of life”. It describes a medical system, which involves all aspects of life , from procreation to death. Ayurveda includes the bodily, material as well as the spiritual realm. According to the Vedic perception of man or the Samkhya philosophy the human body is divided in 24 material components, five gross and 19 subtle. There is always one spiritual component which is our soul which is covered by 3 bodies and consists of 5 layers. The first one would be gross, physical and then surrounded by 2 subtle layers astral and causal. Ayurveda focuses on the Ayurvedic way of living according to ones constitution and the natural secrets to heal the mind, body and soul through routine, diet, exercise, seasons, cleansing, self realization, prevention, devotion and change. An Ayurvedic practitioner would look at a person under treatment, never look at one disease itself, but overall determine a disharmony in the bio energies. This could all be influenced by our mind, digestive fire, diet, emotions, surroundings & spirituality. The leitmotif that Ayurveda offers us for the human form of life is that we should live happily in the material world, never forget our roots in the spiritual world. Learn to balance out our activities on the physic, psychic mental and spiritual levels. We are part of the universe and the universe is a part of us.
Western medicine(WM), also known as Allopathy is more of a newer medicine compared to Ayurveda. Western medicine(WM) is more based on a mechanical, disease and drug focused system. It does not focus on the main healing points of the human body or the root cause of the disease itself. Usually treatments are through surgeries or drugs with side effects. Even though Western medicines tend to give people a quick relieving fix, in the long run it can cause the body more damage and people may become immune to the drugs or suppressed. WM involves doing surgeries which Ayurveda surrounds, but tries to avoid. WM giving patients drugs to kill the disease may cause more toxins in the body which can be removed by following the Ayurvedic principles. Also compared to Ayurvedic medicine, Ayurveda is much more distinct in the way a persons vikruti is approached. The fallback for Ayurvedic medicine is there is not enough awareness or proper research done unlike WM, but Ayurveda is advancing it’s way into the universe.

Rita Lal