Ayus = Life: A longevity medicine from the War Gods. [image: 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
