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Ayurveda
Ayurveda is the ancient Indian medical science, the origin of which
can be traced back to the Vedas, which are the oldest available classics
of the world. Vedas are the ancient books of knowledge, or science, from
India. They contain practical and scientific information on various subjects
beneficial to the humanity like health, philosophy, engineering, astrology etc.
Ayurveda is the only ancient independent scientific system of
medicines. In the medieval period however, the system faced utter neglect at the
hands of foreign rulers. Some authentic literature was destroyed in these
turbulent times. Even then Ayurveda contributed to public health system
due its safe and most effective herbal formulations and easy availability. The
seers who initiated Ayurveda inducted in it sufficiency, soundness and
sustenance, that is why it survived.
The Literal Meaning of
Ayurveda
Ayu + Veda = Ayurveda
Ayurveda is a holistic healing science which comprises of two words, Ayu
and Veda. Ayu means life and Veda means knowledge or science. So
the literal meaning of the word Ayurveda is the science of life. Ayurveda
is a science dealing not only with treatment of some diseases but is a complete
way of life. This becomes clear when we see the meaning of life.
As mentioned above Ayurveda is a science of life so to know more about
it, we must know what is life? Life according to Ayurveda is a
combination of senses, mind, body andsoul. So it is clear from this definition
of life that Ayurveda is not only limited to body or physical symptoms
but also gives a comprehensive knowledge about spiritual, mental and social
health.
The words like soul and spirituality might sound outdated or create a
negative thinking in some of you as they have no place in modern science. As
soon as we hear about these topics, we become uncomfortable. Actually, I don't
feel that it is our fault. No one has ever spoken about these things to us.
&127;We are always trapped in the attractions of outer material world to
become happy and peaceful.
The modern society, education, culture and the television- everything speaks
about materialism. If this was everything why is it so that most us are unhappy.
There is unrest, anxiety, mental tension, fighting and terror every where
despite best efforts being made to stop them. This is because some part of our
body is not being nourished properly.
And that is our inner self or the soul. There has to be a proper balance
between materialism and spiritualism. Ayurveda practises the theory of
balance. According to Ayurveda health is the state of balance and disease
is the state of imbalance. The multi-faceted application of Ayurveda
becomes more confirmed when we dive deep into it.
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