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Many Ayurvedic practices were handed down by word of mouth and were used before there were written records. Two ancient books, written in Sanskrit on palm leaves more than 2,000 years ago, are thought to be the first texts on Ayurveda--Caraka Samhita and Susruta Samhita. In fact, today, Kerala is the only State in India which applies this system of medicine with supreme commitment. |
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Ayurveda is the oldest existing absolute medical system in the world, offering a rich, widespread outlook to a healthy life. Its origins go back nearly 5000 years to when it was explained and practiced by the same saintly rishis, who laid the foundations of the Vedic evolution in India, by organizing the basics of life into apposite coordinations. |
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The chief source of information in this field therefore remains the Vedas, the divine books of knowledge they put forward, and more particularly the fourth of the series, namely Atharvaveda that dates back to around 1000 BC. Of the few other articles on Ayurveda that have survived from around the same time, the most famous are Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita which contemplate on internal medicine and surgery respectively. The Astanga Hridayam is a more brief collection of earlier texts that was created about a thousand years ago. |
No viewpoint has had greater influence on Ayurveda than Sankhaya’s philosophy of creation and manifestation. This acknowledges that behind all creation there is a state of pure existence or awareness, which is beyond time and space, has no beginning or end, and no qualities. |
Imponderable, inexpressible and awfully subtle, this primeval energy – which and all that flows from it existing only in pure existence – is the creative force of all action, a source of form that has qualities. Matter and energy are so closely related that when energy takes form, we tend to think of it in terms of matter only. And much customized, it eventually leads to the manifestation of our familiar mental and physical worlds. |
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It also gives rise to cosmic awareness, which is the universal order that prevades all life. Individual intelligence, as discrete from the everyday intellectual mind, is derived from and is part of this consciousness. It is the inner wisdom, the part of individuality that remains unswayed by the demands of daily life, or by Ahamkara, the sense of `I-ness’. |
There arises from Ahamkara a two-fold creation. The first is Satwa, the subjective world, which is able to perceive and manipulate matter. It comprises the subtle body (the mind), the capacity of the five sense organs to hear, feel, see, taste and smell, and for the five organs of action to speak, grasp, move, procreate and excrete. The mind and the subtle organs providing the bridge between the body, the Ahamkara and the inner wisdom, which three together is considered the essential nature of humans. |
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The second is Tamas, the objective world of the five elements of sound, touch, vision, taste and smell – the five subtle elements that give rise to the dense elements of ether or space, air, fire, water and the earth – from which all matter of the physical world is derived. And it is Rajas, the force or the energy of movement, which brings together parts of these two worlds. |
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Ayurveda is not simply a health care system but a form of lifestyle adopted to maintain perfect balance and harmony within the human existence, from the most abstract transcendental values to the most concrete physiological expressions. Based on the premise that life represents an intelligent co-ordination of the Atma (Soul), Mana (Mind), Indriya (Senses) and Sharira (Body). That revolves around the five dense elements that go into the making of the constitution of each individual, called Prakriti. |
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This in turn is determined by the vital balance of the three physical energies - Vata, Pitta, Kapha and the three mental energies - Satwa, Rajas, and Tamas. |
Ayurveda thus offers a unique blend of science and philosophy that balances the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components necessary for holistic health. |
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