Ayurveda

Ayurveda is known for its Holistic approach. It has stood the test of time and shown its effectiveness through thousands of years. But as time has progressed and Indians became more and more influenced by the Western world, the popularity of Ayurveda; the Indian system of medicine, dwindled. People preferred the newer and quicker systems of medicines, embracing the new and discarding the old.

As Ayurveda faded into the background, several unfounded pieces of information began to surface about it. The newer systems of medicines with the support of newer technologies implicated Ayurveda of being irrational and unscientific and an obsolete science. So this leads to a question, as to whether, truly, are the newer systems of medicine better and more effective than Ayurveda? Let’s look at some facts….
The Human body can be seen in various ways. How you describe the body defines your approach in healing it. Just because two sciences have a different view at looking at them, does not necessarily make one of them wrong. To say Ayurveda is unscientific is nothing short of ignorance on their part. Each of our treatises is work of science. Each chapter is closely linked to the next. Each topic is dealt with great care. From the mere description of diseases, their symptoms, their treatments; it’s evident that these were penned only after thorough research and not merely a shot in the dark.
Ayurveda has always been in tune with nature. It describes in detail the lifestyles to be followed, in the various seasons, as they change. All the medicines are either herbal, mineral, or herbo-mineral, i.e., everything that is easily available in the nature. Because it believes in the ideology of ‘As within, so without’.
In the fast paced world everything has to be quick, no matter what it might lead to later on in life. Popping a pill to tackle fever or kill pain, might seem the easier way out, but definitely not the healthier way out. They disregard the wonder that is Ayurveda, just because “it’s not fast enough!” Nothing could be much further from the truth. There are quicker and effective treatments in Ayurveda too, you just have to take the right one!
A science becomes obsolete only when it stops researching. As long as there are people learning the principles of Ayurveda and developing newer approaches to newer diseases, this science that has survived for thousands of years, could never go obsolete. Just because it describes diseases in terms of invisible doshas and not in terms of microbes and viruses, neither makes it unscientific nor irrational.
Ayurveda has always looked upon the body as a whole. When Ayurveda describes health, it says, only when both the body and the mind are in equilibrium is the person really healthy. Ayurveda is not just diseases and their treatments. Ayurveda is the way of life! It does not just nullify the disease, it uproots it. It does not fill your body with chemicals to fight the disease, it makes your body healthier to fight the disease!


 It makes Health a way of life!


Author : Dr. Tanmaya Acharya