The ayurvedic concept of life
By  Sanjay Parva

Ayurvedic medication involves the use of parts of herbs, minerals and animals to help prevent, manage and treat health problems. Ayurvedic treatment is implemented through herbs, massage and yoga and aims at integrating and balancing the body, mind and spirit of the patient. And it is believed that with this balance in the body, mind and spirit, the patient gains contentment and health wherein illness is prevented. Basically, ayurvedic practices aim at cleansing the body of disease causing substances that help reestablishing harmony and balance.

It has its origin mainly from Hinduism and also from Persian thoughts and has been handed down over the centuries through word of mouth. In fact, ayurvedic practices were used long before any written records were found. The first book of ayurvedic practices is considered to be the books written on palm leaves over 2,000 years ago; Ayurveda- Caraka Samhit and Susruta Samhita. People in India have been using ayurvedic medicine to care for their health for quite a long time. there are also many ayurvedic colleges and hospitals around in India to propagate ayurvedic treatment. not only does India practice ayurvedic medicine, places like Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Tibet too have been following ayurvedic medicine since the past few centuries.

It was in the later part of the twentieth century that the professional practice of ayurvedic medicine became visible in the united states of America. Ayurvedic practitioners usually consider their relationships among people, their health and the universe to form the basis for curing of health problems. According to ayurvedic science, all of the parts and things of the universe, both living and non-living are joined together. It is considered that human beings contain elements that are found in the universe in ayurvedic literature. Ayurvedic medicine follows the principle that all people are born in a state of balance in themselves which are related to the universe. And it is this state of balance that disrupts the processes of life in the human being, leading to health problems.

These health problems can be anything physical, emotional, spiritual or a combination of them. And these imbalances in the body brings about a weakening in the body wherein the body and person is susceptible to diseases. So according to the principles of ayurvedic science, the person’s health is improved if it is made to interact with the immediate environment effectively and wholesomely. Another belief in ayurvedic science is about the constitution of the body. With constitution, it mean’s the general health of the person, how he is likely to come out of balance in the body constitution due to outside elements and the ability of the body to resist, and to recover from any disease or health problems it may encounter. In ayurvedic medicine, the constitution of the body is called the prakriti. And it is this prakriti that is considered to be a combination of both physical and psychological characteristics that controls the functioning of the individual body.

The prakriti is influenced by various factors like the digestion and digestive powers of the body and how the body actually deals with the waste products of digestion. In ayurvedic science, the prakriti never changes in the lifetime of a person. According to ayurvedic science, the three important characteristics of the constitution are called doshas which actually control the activities of the body. These three doshas are referred to by their Sanskrit names; vata, pitta and kapha. Each of these three doshas are made of one or two of the five basic elements of the world, that is, space, water, fire, earth and air. Each of these doshas in turn have a particular relationship to body functions that tend to get upset or changed in the course of time, for different reasons.

In ayurvedic science, it is considered that the person has his or her own balance of the three doshas in the body where one dosha is usually prominent. It is through food, activity and body processes that there doshas are constantly being formed and reformed in the body. Each individual with their particular body type and personality type is associated with a particular dosha; and it is according to this that the body of a person is considered to be susceptible to certain types of health problems in the human body. In ayurvedic science, it is an imbalance in the dosha that tends to produce symptoms related to that dosha which are in turn different from imbalances with other doshas.

The imbalance in a dosha in a person’s body is caused by an unhealthy lifestyle or diet where there may be too much, or perhaps too little of mental and physical exertion. And according to this in ayurvedic science, the body is not protected properly from weather, chemicals and germs and thus brings about health problems and complications in the body. So in ayurvedic science, the ayurvedic practitioner aims at finding out the primary dosha of the patient, and with this information, decide on the balance of doshas in the body by asking the patient questions. On getting familiar with the patient, it is possible to determine the cause and cure for the imbalance of the doshas and the disease.

The ayurvedic practitioner basically asks questions about the diet, behavior, lifestyle practices and the reasons for the illnesses and symptoms the patient is complaining about. They also observe the physical characteristics of a person like their eye’s, skin, weight and teeth. And on taking the pulse of the person, ayurvedic practitioners can learn the dosha of the patient.

This is because individual doshas produce individual kinds of pulse. Once the dosha is found out, the ayurvedic practitioner develops a treatment plan to help the patient. Changes in diet, lifestyle and habits are usually advised to eliminate impurities in the body through panchakarma; a cleansing process of the body. Ayurvedic treatment also reduces symptoms through yoga, ayurvedic medication, meditation and breathing exercises. Ayurvedic treatment is a rather slow form of treatment; however, its results are rather long lasting without much of a possibility of the health problem recurring in the near future.

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