Serving perfection since 1995

Ayurveda Is As Old As Humanity

Ayurveda is one such ancient science. This is confirmed by the fact that the methods of diagnosis and treatment which were used thousands of years ago are being successfully used even today.

For example, the actions of ginger in the human body, mentioned in the Ayurvedic texts thousands of years ago are the same even today. Whereas, in modern science, an antibiotic invented a hundred years ago might have different actions today. Some of them are not good for human use at all and have been completely banned. This doesn’t mean that modern science is wrong. We should use modern science and technology to research ancient traditional systems and, if they are good, then use them to help the suffering people. Since the aim of any medical system is to give relief to the patient, there is no harm in combining the best from different systems and using it for the service of humanity.

Ayurveda is as old as humanity. As the name itself says- Ayurveda-is the science of life, so it originated with life. One of the principles of Ayurveda is that life is eternal, so its science should also be eternal. So, Ayurveda has no beginning and no end. It is eternal as well as universal. It does not belong to any particular country, religion or civilization. It does not belong to any particular period of History. The eternity of Ayurveda is also described in the Charak Samhita. It says that Ayurveda is eternal. It deals with things which are inherent in nature.

Such natural manifestations are eternal. Based on several facts and proofs, scholars of Ayurveda and ancient literature have said that Ayurveda originated before or around 6000 BC. Because prior to this Ayurveda was preached and practised orally, their historians have considered this to be the time of origin of Ayurveda, based on written proofs only. Whether you believe that life is eternal or not is really not all that important.

Even you existentialists can improve your health through Ayurveda

 

History

Ayurveda, the science of life, prevention and longevity is the oldest and most holistic or comprehensive medical system available. It was placed in written form over 2,000 years ago in India, it is said to be a world medicine. Before the advent of writing, the ancient wisdom of healing, prevention and longevity was a part of the spiritual tradition of a universal religion. Medical knowledge from all areas of the world gathered in India, and the famous sage Vyasa, put into writing the complete knowledge of Ayurveda, along with the more directly spiritual insights of ethics, virtue and Self-realization.

What are fascinating are the methods used to acquire this knowledge of the uses of herbs, foods, aromas, gems, colours, yoga, mantras, lifestyle and surgery? The sage/physician/surgeons of the time were the same sages or seers, deeply devoted holy people, who saw health as an integral part of spiritual life. It is said that they received their training of Ayurveda through direct cognition during meditation. In other words, the knowledge of the use of the various methods of healing, prevention, longevity and surgery came through Divine revelation; there were no guessing or testing and harming animals. These revelations were transcribed from the oral tradition into book form, interspersed with the other aspects of life and spirituality.

There were originally four main books of spirituality, which included, among other topics, health, astrology, spiritual business, government, army, poetry and ethical living. These books are known as the Vedas; Rik, Sama, Yajur and Atharva. Ayurveda was used in conjunction with Vedic astrology (Jyotish-inner light). At later dates, Ayurveda was organized into its own compact system of health and considered an auxiliary branch of the Vedas, called an Upaveda (the limb of the Veda), because it dealt with the healing aspects of spirituality, and not directly discussing spiritual development. These authors took the passages related to Ayurveda from the various Vedas and made separate books, dealing only with Ayurveda.

Among the Rik Veda’s 10,572 hymns, are found discussions of the three doshas, Vayu, Pitta and Kapha; organ transplants, and artificial limbs, the use of herbs to heal the diseases of the mind and body and to foster longevity. Within the Atharva Veda’s 5,977 hymns, are discussions of anatomy, physiology and surgery?

Around 1500 B.C., Ayurveda was delineated into eight specific branches of medicine. There were two main schools of Ayurveda at that time, Atreya-the school of physicians; and Dhanvantari- the school of surgeons. These two schools made Ayurveda a more scientifically verifiable and classifiable medical system. Through research and testing, they dispelled the doubts of the more practical and scientific minded, removing the aura of mystery that surrounded the concept of Divine revelation. Consequently, Ayurveda grew into a respected and widely used system of healing in India. People from numerous countries came to Indian Ayurvedic schools to learn about this world medicine- in its completeness. Chinese, Tibetans, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Afghanistanis, Persians, and more travelled to learn the complete wisdom and bring it back to their own countries.

There are two main re-organizers of Ayurveda whose works still exist intact today- Charak and Sushrut. The third major treatise is called the Ashtanga Hridaya which is a concise version of the works of Charak and Sushrut. Thus the three main ancient Ayurvedic texts that are still used today are the Charak Samhita (compilation), Sushrut Samhita and the Ashtangha Hridaya Samhita. These books are believed to be over 1,200 years old. It is because these texts still contain the original and complete knowledge of this Ayurvedic world medicine, that Ayurveda is known today as the only complete medical system still in existence. Other forms of medicine from various cultures, although parallel, are missing parts of the original information.

Charak represented the Atreya School of physicians, discussing physiology, anatomy, etiologic, pathogenesis, symptoms and signs of disease; methodology of diagnosis, treatment and prescription of patients; prevention and longevity. Included were internal and external causes of illness. Charak states that the first cause of illness is the loss of faith in the Divine. In other words, when a person does not have the experience that God is inside us, and, outside- in all things, this separation of vision creates a gap in which longing or suffering for the oneness of vision occurs. This suffering is the beginning of the spiritual, mental and physical disease. External causes of health included time of day, seasons, diet and lifestyle. There is a whole section discussing the medicinal aspects of herbs, diet, and reversing of the ageing process.

For the sceptical modern person, who wonders if this ancient wisdom can be believed, one only need to read Charak’s month-by-month description of the development of the fetus in the womb to see its exact parallels to what we know today from using modern technical machinery.
Sushruta comes from the Dhanvantari School of surgeons. In America, there is a society of surgeons who named themselves the Sushruta Society. In this text, there are detailed and sophisticated discussions of surgical equipment; the classification of abscesses, burns, fractures, wounds, amputation, plastic surgery, anal/rectal surgery, which are validated by modern medicines technical equipment and research. There is a complete discussion of the human anatomy; the bones, joints, nerves, heart, blood vessels, circulatory system etc., again, corroborated by today’s methods of mechanical investigation. From the Sushrut Samhita, we learn of the first science of massage, using marma points or vital body points, which parallel Chinese acupuncture. Even the popular Polarity Massage Therapy in America was developed by a man after studying massage in India.