For a long time, I have been wanting to share these thoughts and discoveries (as a healer), as a means of understanding our health and our bodies. There are so many myths about health, medicine, disease, death and doctors that it is difficult to decide where to begin (and end) the subject. So, I think that this ‘paper’ might see many ‘editions’. My own understanding has come from a study of Ayurveda, Acupressure, medical columns and journals as well as practice as a healer helping others to recover their health, not to mention suffering long years from many “ailments”. My ability to scan the human aura has also come of great help in this understanding. I have tried to keep it short.
First of all, health and disease are not two static, clearly definable polarities. It is a dynamic axis on which we could find ourselves at any point everyday. If our discomfort stays for too long and shows no sign of receding, then only we take notice of what our body is trying to tell us. Even then, if we know of some fix that has worked in the past, we will try that out first and carry on with the feeling that we are ‘healthy’.
Accurate Diagnosis- the greatest challenge
My first argument is about what is largely believed as the modern ‘scientific’ medicine of Allopathy. (This word seems to be an Indian invention because we want to distinguish it Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Siddha etc.) I find all other systems more scientific, health-promoting, time-tested and proven. There are far fewer gaps in the logic, explanations and approach in the non-allopathic systems, particularly the Eastern systems of Ayurveda and Acupuncture.
When you go to a good Tibetan doctor with some problem, s/he is most likely to ask you “Did this problem come in course of time or did you have an accident some time?” I find this a scientific way of beginning to understand what might have gone wrong with the body -not the battery of screenings, probes and tests that challenge one’s pocket and also leaves the docs often clueless as to what could be the most helpful step to take next. Similarly, a good Ayur Vaid would also try and find out how your health or vitality might have decreased and to what degree the ‘ailment’ has gained an upper hand in your body. The symptoms of your suffering are seen as precisely that – of the ‘doctor’ or ‘healer’ inside you not working well enough. In the Eastern systems, therefore, the approach is to begin with the mildest and minimum of medications or procedures. It is both to see how your body responds to the medicines as well as to not traumatize an already weakened body. This is exactly the opposite of what Allopathy does – of bombarding a weakened body with strong medicines.
Hunting grounds
Early in the 1960’s hospitals and doctors in the West began to go the way they are doing in India, in the last 20-25 years. At that time, many highly qualified doctors (most of them MD’s) began to protest saying that hospitals and doctors (who were backed by pharmaceutical and insurance companies) had no business to alarm people, giving them all kinds of disease labels and undermine their health. ‘To conduct unsolicited and routine tests on individuals who had no complaints or health problems was wrong; the fear and panic caused (by these tests and procedures) cause more problems’, they said. Some of them (called hygienists) understood that wrong food habits, particularly, overeating was at the root of diseases. Eating wrong kind of food, cooked through wrong methods and eating food unsuited to one’s body and its condition produced toxins (waste) in the body. Accumulation of waste or toxins beyond a point creates a load on the body so that it becomes sick. Interestingly, the waste was described as a ‘sticky mucous’ that blocks the intestines.
This is much like how Ayurveda describes Aama. But Ayurveda has a long check list for treatment and medication- body type, age, climate/ season, dosage, administration, stage of the disease and very importantly, the vitality in the body. So the way back to health is to clear the body of this burden and enable the body’s vital energy to flow freely through the channels and organs. Initially, if the person’s nerve (or basic vital) energy is good, the waste gets cleared up everyday. But the efficiency of this cleaning and clearing gets reduced gradually, over time.
The hygienists in the West (Switzerland and US, notably) put people on 2-3 weeks of fast, followed by grape juice diet or some special diet that aids in cleansing. Many people who had been written off by hospitals as incurable, recovered their health. Even badly injured athletes have returned to their sport after such fasting; one of them became an Olympic runner later; opera singers who had lost their voice got it back. However, the general feeling was that these fasts need to be supervised by a ‘competent’ person who happened, in these places, to be an MD doctor.
Most religions prescribe regular fasts – Lent, Ramadan, Ekadasi- for the same reason. Any disease takes long to set in and regular cleaning up through fasts or skipping meals aids in good maintenance of the body. Ayurveda says, Langhanam paramoushadham- fasting is the supreme medicine.
Natural health – Atheetha Ashram
I used to go to ‘health camps’ in an Ashram where people did 3-day fasts twice or thrice in a fortnight. Each fast was followed by some kind of special food (macrobiotic, tender coconut water, soups and juices) that helped clear the accumulated waste. (The Dwadasi meal that follows the fasting of Ekadasi, also has elements of this.) The cleanup that happened here, though much less than what the 3-week fasts in the West might have effected, produced stunning results. I was in several camps and had the opportunity to see a good number of people with a variety of ailments and suffering lasting several years. The faces contorted by pain on the first day were transformed, lit by pleasant smiles after the fast. Many who had been unable to walk even a few steps were happily walking a couple of kilometers. I was myself unable to walk some 20 steps due to severe asthma and enervation, when I entered. But after the fast I walked some four kilometers with ease. I had suffered from severe asthma attacks all my life. One of the worst ‘allergens’ was old dust on books. But after a 3-day fast, I could happily sit in the library reading many dusty old books. (Please note, I do not recommend unsupervised fast to anyone.)
Four Stages of Disease
In the Ashram, disease was described as having four stages. First, there was the feeling of lethargy or lack of appetite. Very few people living in modern lifestyles become even aware of this. At the slightest feeling of unease, they down some strong stimulant and put it behind them. But I have met many rural people and those who live a more natural lifestyle, skip eating because they are not hungry. This also means that you should become aware that appetite varies due to many reasons and there is nothing wrong if you eat less on some day or skip a meal. In fact, one should become fine-tuned enough to notice such things. So, do not eat when not hungry; do not stuff children when they are not hungry.
Acute Stage: This is the second stage when you have a palpable discomfort – some aches and pains, feeling sick, having a fever or cold etc. At this stage, the body is fighting and trying to get rid of the toxin burden. The discomfort is caused by this action of the immune system - the body trying to push the waste out, clean up and get back to the equilibrium of health. In a healthy body that is not distorted by medicines or stimulants, this stage too is marked by lack of appetite. How you handle this stage determines whether you conserve your health or move into the next stage – the chronic stage of the disease.
What to do and not do: Often, people do not know discomfort in the stomach from real hunger. Also, when one has a headache or tummy ache, eating might pacify the discomfort giving rise to the “knowledge” that the symptom was caused by hunger. It is not so. The symptom is caused by the body’s effort to clean up, the channels not being clear and the amount of energy available being less than required for the purpose. Therefore, DO NOT feed any dis-ease. It is better to have some water and skip eating until the appetite comes back without the ache/discomfort. This would have enabled the body to clean up the root cause of the ache. I got rid of the unbearable 3-day long migraine headaches that I used to suffer, through this method. Certainly, DO NOT feed cold or fever either. This will leave your immune system strengthened, although you may feel weak for a few hours initially, when you do this.
Chronic Stage: When the acute stage is not allowed to go through its course repeatedly and make the rectification needed to return to health, the disease becomes chronic, compromising the strength of the vital organs. The following are some the most common interferences with the correcting procedure (you can add your own):
- Eating when there is no appetite;
- Eating heavily and food that is difficult to digest (you will feel it afterward);
- Taking medicines particularly those that give you a very quick ‘relief’, cause an immediate and drastic change in how you feel;
- Taking medicines also gives a false feeling being able to ‘work’ or do what you want to do – go to a party, meeting, travel or whatever;
- Not resting when the body is tired, exhausted and wants to sleep.
In the chronic stage, as the disease has sunk in or dug in, as it were, into the vital reserves, the body might need some aid such as medication. It might not respond to simple home remedies, a change in the diet (in case you have that rare knowledge) or adequate rest. In the chronic stage, you might be totally free from any symptom and free from medication for notable periods of time, such as an entire season – say, 6-8 months. However, as the body still gets relief from medicines in this stage, most people continue with the unhealthy, disease-promoting habits- popping a pill, binge-eating etc.
What to do and not do: Follow the same principles of skipping a meal/ eating less or only easy-to- digest food (this list is more complex than you might think) when you have any discomfort. Rest, relax, do not push yourself to do anything for which you do not have the energy. Accept the temporary inability or decreased ability. Usually, your earliest symptom of unwellness (whether it is breathing problem, headache, stomach ache or whatever) should be your indicator. If you begin to get a different or more symptoms, it means that you have not handled the acute symptom in a correct (health-promoting) way. (For eg., digestive upsets turning into something like sciatica, ulcers or migraine headaches).
Many of the body’s immune responses such as fever, cold, pains and swelling, are often misunderstood as disease symptoms. Although it is a constant challenge to manage them in this stage, it is worth avoiding excessive medication and try and improve one’s immune system.
In the chronic stage, the focus should be as much or more on improving your health, conserving your energy and vitality as managing and relieving the symptoms.
One of the things that the modern medical system does not know is how the vital organs help one another for a long time before any one of them shows signs of collapse that is measurable on their machines. Secondly, the brain and the nervous system is an extremely complex system to understand although they play a central role in all other systems. The modern Western medical system has almost nothing to offer to help improve them.
Degenerative Stage: This is the fourth and the last stage. But that does not mean that the person is going to die soon. Death and disease are not related. In spite of constant experience to the contrary, I do not know why people do not know/remember this simple truth. But surely, the person’s abilities will begin to go down.
Many diseases (including cancer) that are labeled “auto-immune disorders” come under this category. We must remember that this is a stage when the disease is high and health is low. It is said to be incurable because, for a cure or roll back to better health, the person has to make radical changes in lifestyle, habits and thinking patterns. Very few people are willing to make that quantum shift and fewer would know how to do that correctly. But if they do, they have a lot to gain. Again, the changes one has to make are very difficult to decipher given the abundance of information that are as confusing as conflicting. The person has to study and understand her/his body and disease symptoms and adopt what are called lifestyle changes. These are not as simple as some walking, exercising, drinking lot of water or eating fresh fruits and vegetables. It involves radical changes in thinking, attitude and constant alertness and observation. Like someone has said, ‘in these cases, the patient has to be a member of her/his doctors’ team. It is easier said than done. Allopathic medicines often destroy and distort most, if not all, of the body’s immune responses so that understanding them enough becomes almost impossible. The recovery from this stage can only be one of a degree, a better management of symptoms and reduced disabilities.
My earlier paper- ‘Ayurveda and Ageing’ gives many ideas to retrieve vitality. It is not possible, as a rule, to be without daily medication in this stage. But what medicines, when and how much to take are things that you have to discover yourself by regular, careful and intelligent observation and experimentation. Doctors (of whichever field) can only aid in this. I have been able to help many people in this matter by talking to them and
helping them understand their symptoms and arrive at an optimum practice.
Scientific-Unscientific
I have problem with the word ‘scientific’ as it is commonly used. It seems that people equate it with English, Western origin and some mumbo-jumbo figures. I have been a careful reader of the health columns in the papers for over four decades and have found any number of those “scientific truths” overturned, whether it is connected with cancer, heart problems, cholesterol and cooking oil or protein requirement of the body. When the fundamentals are flawed, it is no surprise that the superstructure keeps crumbling. But very few people have the patience and ability to understand the complex issues of the body and health.
Let us take the simple thing first of description of the organs. In the so-called ‘unscientific’ Eastern systems of Ayurveda or Acupressure, the size of your body or organ is described in terms of the length of your palm or thumb. The location of some point on the body is described in terms of your fingers’ width. The size of your kidney or heart is again as that of your fist. The quantum of blood in your body is in your handsful (anjali) counts. Obesity is indicated by the shape of your fingers not by some BMI because there are so many body types. Considering the variations in the size and shape of human bodies, I find this scientific, unlike the description through BMI of kilos and inches. Except for the quantity of blood in the body that I cannot verify, I have found these descriptions to be accurate.
Aetiology of disease Patanjali’s Yoga as well as Ayurveda said that the origin of disease is in the mind thousands of years before Allopathy coined the word ‘psychosomatic’. Impairment and imbalance in the flow of energy and Prana (in Acupressure and Ayurveda) is the first recognizable symptom of disease. Both these systems have elaborate descriptions of the interaction of the mind and various organs and the inter connections between a particular internal organ with an external one. For example, the liver, eyes and thinking. These inter-relations come to one’s notice and experience unmistakably all the time. Yet, for some reason, the modern medical system refuses to recognize them.
Ayurveda recognizes three causes for disease. Before I go into the wonderful description of these, let me tell you that Allopathy also talks of three causes- Primary cause – unknown factors (like God alone knows); Secondary- caused by Primary and Tertiary- caused by Secondary! Since almost no doctor reads medical journals or wonders why some disease has come in a body, they have all forgotten to pay any attention to what a primary cause in any case could be. Let us come back to the causes in Ayurveda.
Prajnaparadha or mistake of the intellect is the root cause of disease. This is beautifully described in Dr. Sunil Joshi’s book Panchakarma and Ayurveda. “…We become identified with our limitations rather than our unlimited potential. This situation is extremely stressful to the body and the mind. This accompanies a gradual loss of the mind’s Sattva- its brilliance, innocence and joy. As the influence of sattva diminishes, that clear discriminative intelligence with us also starts to fade and we make other mistakes, erroneous choices in behaviour and eating which upsets the balance of the doshas (this refers to the 3 principles running the body) in the body.” Joshi goes on to say, “…such decisions inevitably create disharmony with the laws that govern nature’s functioning and are, in essence, crimes against our own well-being. When we create disharmony in our relationship with nature, we simultaneously create internal disharmony with disease being the natural consequence. When the intellect ceases to identify with the wholeness, the mind becomes weak and makes choices that injure life and generate illness. Take the commonest example of alcohol and cigarettes. Most people are aware that they weaken the immune system and cause a variety of illnesses as well as other serious problems. In spite of this, many continue to use these things to their great detriment.”
This argument can also be extended to wrong and unsuitable food or drinks. Fried or stale (refrigerated and reheated) food and stimulating drinks have become so much a part of our diet that when I tell someone to avoid them, it is dismissed with something like, ‘when the entire world is eating these things and getting along fine, why fuss?’ The increasing incidence of diabetes, heart or other ailments or the fact that young(er) people are less fit than the older generation, are entirely to do with these wrong habits.
At a simpler level, Prajnaparadha is “doing something knowing it to be wrong.” When we do or eat something that does not suit us, we know it at the back of our minds. But so long as we know of some fix- however temporary it is, we continue to do the mistake, enabling the disease to root deeper. Ofcourse, the modern values of cut-throat competition, putting down others to go up, envy etc. are all aspects of Prajnyaparadha. They eat into the feeling of one’s self-worth, like cancer. ‘Do to others what you would like them to do for you’ that every religion taught, is no more promoted as a virtue.
Asathmya-Indriyartha-Samyoga or misuse of the sense organs is the second cause of disease. When the mind loses its sattva, it loses its ability to instinctively make life-supporting decisions and we begin to use our sense organs in harmful ways. Ayurveda identifies three forms of wrong uses – overuse, underuse and emotionally harmful use. This further allows the harmful influences to impact the mind and the body. Watching TV (violence and other revolting things), eating wrongly, talking too much, hearing loud ‘music’ are all examples of misuse of the senses. (Living in a city, the environment wrongs us enough- we do not have to worsen it for ourselves.) With the result, sattva’s influence on the mind wanes even further resulting in imbalance of the doshas and production of aama or the sticky mucous, mentioned earlier. One can see a direct relation to the growth of diseases and these habits in the society today.
Parinaama
This is the third cause of disease according to Ayurveda. It refers to the negative effects of ageing, change in seasons and weather on the body. Because Ayurveda can make sense of the symptoms the body shows in the various seasons, and age groups and body types, it can help remarkably in a deeper cure. Ayurveda prescribes ritucharya or adopting an optimum set of patterns of eating, dressing, exercising and resting/ relaxing for each season. Food suggested for different seasons vary. The herbs (drugs/medicines) that are used to treat symptoms or disease vary with the weather conditions as well as the body types. The three doshas react to the changes in the climate. In a healthy body, necessary changes are effected efficiently and the equillibrium is maintained. But once Aama is produced it interferes with the ability of the three doshas to maintain a proper balance. Eventually they lose their natural ability to adapt to the changes in the climate, as in a weakened or sick body. This is the reason that incidence and duration of a cold or fever or any chronic problem increase with age. The body accumulates toxins and waste that get deposited in the weak spots in the body and its efficiency decreases.
Parinaama is a tricky and difficult thing to understand. Although it is defined as the effect of the climate on the body, it is better understood as the cumulative effect of many wrong-doings on the body. Very often people think that they ate something the previous day or got drenched in the rain one day and their trouble began with that. It is NEVER like that. The body has a great resilience, even when it is compromised with a chronic or degenerative disease. My doctor uses an apt expression for this. He says, “your pot of sins got over filled”. The thing you blame as the cause of your breakdown or symptom is the last straw on the camel’s back. As most of us begin to look at our health problems only when we cannot any more manage with our routines that we like to, our pot of sins is bound to be partially full at any point of time. (Anyone who is reading this carefully would be in this condition, I would dare say.)
What to do and not do: Never blame any one thing or factor for your state of (ill) health. There is bound to be a series of wrong doings for you to arrive there. Examine and try and recall the earliest symptom of discomfort that you ignored, particularly, when there was a change in the weather. Your pot of sins began to fill from then on. Ritucharya is a complex thing to understand. But some simple rules to follow would be like this:
- Never eat late or heavily in the evening or at night meals.
- A change in the weather is a stress on the body. Eat lightly during the transition period- for a week (?). What is light and what is not is again riddled with complexity, confusion and much ignorance. To know what is easily digestible, Ayurveda can be the guide. (A simple rule is that you should feel light and good after eating and for 3-4 hours thereafter)
- Never eat large quantities (a whole meal) of things that you do not habitually eat. If something does not get you sick the first time but gives some discomfort, it does not mean that it is good or ok for you. If you eat it three times, you will get quite sick.
When we look at the people suffering from all kinds of diseases/ ailments, it is evident that the three causes, Prajnaparadha, Asathmendriyartha samyoga and Parinaama are behind it. The modern, competitive society and lifestyle, in fact, encourage and promote these causes every minute.
I want to end on a positive note: However sick, do not despair. Do not get hypochondriac. Go to a good general physician, a healer or a yoga person. You will always find some help.
Manufacturing Defect
There is one category of people who, for want of a better expression, I call are born with a manufacturing defect. We are, generally, aware of only major or highly visible ‘defects’ or impairments. There are several defects- nasal septum deviation, a bone spur, a hole in the heart or a defective valve. According to an old ENT doctor, about 60% of people have septum deviation of some degree. Depending on the seriousness of the defect, its effect may or may not be noticed in the normal circumstances. It might only show up when there is an extraordinary stress on the body, such as a pregnancy or some other uncorrectable systemic weakness and ageing. Again, it is the extra demand on the energies of the body that needs to be addressed. Correcting the defect that has not been noticed for 30-40 years, through surgery may have little long term benefit. I think such people should opt for other treatment forms- Ayurveda, Homeopathy, energy healing as well as learn ways of maintaining their health and energy. Occasionally, a one time surgical intervention may be beneficial in cases such as a defective heart or deformed foot. But such people will always have to be vigilant and learn the tricks of keeping optimum health and be ready to adopt all the changes that it may require. I also think that this category of people is the one that modern medical practitioners fail very badly and never reflect on their failures to really help the patient. These are also the people who move to the chronic disease stage quite early, especially, if they take to Allopathy.
Interestingly, Indian health tradition seems to have recognized the existence of this category of persons. One sign of such persons is childhood sickness and weaknesses. They might get better as the body’s vitality improves by puberty and youth. But the body’s inherent weakness will remain and return at a crisis and old(er) age. Traditionally, such children were given some energizer (such as an amulet or a crystal) to wear as medicines generally might have produced more complications. They were identified as affected by “balagraha” and some bodily features of such persons were also observed and noted (such as straight eyelashes!). There could be causes: it could be a trauma the child suffered either during pregnancy or at childbirth. The trauma might have been physical or emotional or both. However, this knowledge and understanding is getting lost and children and youngsters are being subjected to very heavy medications and this category suffers most from it.
Vaidyaraja namas tubhyam Yamaraja sahodara. Yamstu harati praanan vaidyah pranaan dhanaani cha. (Poet Bhartrhari said this in the 11th Century. That means the problems we see now are not new.)
