I changed the title because it is impossible to write "all about
Ayurveda" in one Internet post. :-D
On 01/25/2014 08:43 AM, Richard Williams wrote:
Ayus = Life: A longevity medicine from the War Gods.
Inline image 1
Dandi Sanyasins at SBS Ashram in Allahabad, India
According to the Puranas, i.e., the ancient sacred mythological
stories, the advent of disease is described in the Sacrifice of Daksha.
Daksha's Wedding
In this story, the great god Shiva, in revenge for not being invited
to Daksha's wedding, sacrifices Daksha himself! It has been explained
nicely that Lord Shiva was very angry because Daksha's feast was an
incestuous wedding sacrifice. In the ensuing chaos, the following
diseases were engendered: gulma (tumours), prameha (diabetes), kushtha
(leprosy), unmada (insanity), apasmara (epilepsy), raktapitta
(haemorrhage) and rajayakshma (consumption). Quite so.
The Purport:
The term Ayurveda means the science of life, that is, a life science
as preventative medicine of longevity; originally a Buddhist medical
system that had its beginnings more than two and half thousand years
ago. In the Nikayas we read of the Buddha's physician Jivaki, an early
Ayerveda physician, and one who donated his own bamboo grove to the
Order.
Ayurveda, being an effective and reasonable alternative medical
treatment, soon developed inside the strictly Hindu community and was
taken up and adapted by other religious groups such as the Jains, and
the Chinese. Medicine has a long association with the way of the
warrior. Shiva, the god blamed for spreading so many new diseases is
often associated with war. Another warrior god called Indra, is said
to be have actually given 'the science of longevity, that is, Ayurveda
to humanity in order to rid them of these same diseases. So, one god
gives; another takes away. How so?
According to Kris Morgan, Shiva and Indra are very closely related,
like two sides of the same coin. Says Morgan: "Perhaps it shouldn't
surprise us that those who are most skilled at inflicting pain are
also the very ones to remove it again" (also, see Plato's Republic).
The warrior god Indra has an earthly son called Arjuna. Now, Arjuna is
the archetypal martial artist and participated in the long and bloody
war that according to Indian tradition marks the beginning of human
history. Indra's story is told in the epic poem the Mahabharata.
Martial arts tradition has it that Buddhist missionaries travelling
from India in the first few centuries of our era took with them the
martial arts to China.
There is therefore a direct link between the Buddhist surgeon
Sushruta, whose work was widely studied and the highly developed
system of pressure points and meridians. The terms may have changed
but the underlying concepts of Ayurveda and the fighting arts of Asia
are surprisingly similar, according to Morgan.
Ayurveda developed at about the same time as the Upanishads and
replaced earlier ideas on disease and healing that were contained in
religious books such as the Vedas. With the advent of Ayurveda, with
its more scientific and rational analysis, the old view of disease,
explained as possession by various demonic disease entities, was no
longer reasonable to the more modern mercantile middle class who
resided in and around modern Bihar.
Apparently, with the growth of cities and a more settled way of life,
a new response was needed to health, and thus a new medical system was
developed. It is a fact that the circulation of blood in the human
body was discovered more than 1000 years before the same discovery by
Harvey in the West!
According to MMY, most people are born in a state of equipoise but
quickly loose it, either through karma, bad diet, bad treatment,
extreme stress, or moving away from the physical location most
conducive to their natural constitution and temperament. Everyone is
recommended to discover for themselves what the optimum conditions for
them might be and to try to keep themselves on an even keel.
The primary method for returning and maintaining the "humours" to a
state of equipoise is meditation that is transcendental, and a
supplementary practice, the siddhis, in which stress is replaced with
bubbling bliss. Today, thanks to MMY, the ancient science of Ayerveda
is undergoing a renaissance, both in India and throughout the world,
which sees it as a necessary compliment to the clinical model. Just so.
Excursus:
It is perhaps more well known that Indian sexology describes a system
of erogenous zones, chakras, in Sanskrit, or points of arousal. These
points are enumerated in texts such as the Kama Sutra and Ananga
Ranga, erotic texts which take many of their source ideas from the
medical tradition. However, perhaps less well known is the
counterpoint to the erogenous zones, i.e., the points of vulnerability
or marmas. Sushruta, identified about 140 marmas and some of these
have been matched with corresponding pressure points in jujitsu and
other martial arts.
This wallah has found that the Hara, that is, the psychic center near
the navel, corresponding to Agni Chakra, is an ideal center for
adjusting fluctuations in disposition; the *perfect* awareness center
for busy householders in order to appreciate both erogenous AND
vulnerable pressure points. So:
"Diet is anything, mental or physical, that is assimilated into the
human organism." - Maharishi
Work cited:
'Medicine of the Gods'
by Kris Morgan
Mandrake Press, Oxford 1999
Other titles of interest:
'Return of the Rishi: A Doctor's Story of Spiritual Transformation and
Ayurvedic Healing'
by Deepak Chopra M.D.
Houghton Mifflin, 1988
'Instant Healing: Gain Inner Strength, Empower Yourself, and Create
Your Destiny'
by Susan Shumsky
New Page Books, 2013
'Ayerveda'
by Nancy Bruning and Helen Thomas, D.C.
A Dell Book, 1997
'Freedom from Disease'
by Hari Sharma, M.D., and Christopher Clark, M.D.
'Ayerveda'
by Scott Gerson, M.D.
Element, 1999
