Ayurveda: Basics

JAY SHREE POOJYASHREE SHREE AMMA
JAY MAHAN BRAHMASHREE GOPALAVALLIDASAR
JAY SHREE RADHEKRISHNA SATHSANG

Radhekrishna!

We continue our introduction of Ayurveda. As mentioned in the previous article it’s a part of Atharva–veda, youngest of the four Vedas. Nowadays it is observed across India that corporates who are in the FMCG sector (Fast moving consumer goods) are continuously trying to shift their focus to bring in some or the other 'herbal' element in their products. They are using this technique to increase the sales of their products. This is because people nowadays are becoming conscious and aware that herbal products are good for health. The examples include herbal tea, herbal soaps, herbal tooth pastes, products like chavanaprash etc.

This thinking is absolutely correct; there is no doubt about this. India is a treasure house of herbs. Earlier people had good knowledge pf herbs. The doctors of the ancient times better know as 'Vaidyaji' (this term can be heard in old Hindi movies) had profound knowledge of herbs and they had the ability to cure all types if illnesses using proper blend of different herbs. Mother Nature or 'prakriti' has given us enough medicines in the form of herbs to cure any and every disease. This is very true; whether anyone believes it or not. However, the knowledge of these has got lost in generations. Hence we have to depend on western medicinal branches like allopathy for curing diseases which treat prevention and cure differently.

However, Ayurveda is holistic; it does not try to draw a line between food and medicine, prevention and cure. The world is waking up today to the wisdom of 3,000 years. Pharmaceutical companies all over the world are working overtime developing and bringing to the market herb–based products which blur the line between food and medicine. The health care and herbal segments of the traditional pharma manufacturers are merging to bring out health and nutrition oriented products for common aliments like cough, cold, dermatological and digestive problems.

In the absence of adverse side effects, the Food and Drug Administration authorities across the world approve these formulations for use without prescription from a qualified physician, which is called as OTC (over the counter) drugs in industry parlance. According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, there are about 400 families of flowering medicinal plants of which 315 families of plants occur in India. Thus India, with both the knowledge system and the material base has the potential to assume leadership in the pharmaceutical industry in the coming years.

The plant properties in the Indian tradition were discovered through a method in the Indian tradition different from that of western science. This is described in the traditional textbooks as Dravya–guna–shastra (science of the property of the materials). The challenge for the Indian scientists is to develop intercultural bridges between Dravya–guna–shastra and modern Pharmaceology. Such bridges can only be built when there is mutual respect and scientists feel that they own the indigenous knowledge as much as they own modern science.

On this note, let us continue our discussion in the next article. Till then Radhekrishna!

Sarvam Guruvarpanam.