BASIC PRINCIPLE OF AYURVEDA
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YOGENDRA
AYURVEDA
| “Desire for long life” |
| Salutation to The Unique and Rare Physician, who has
destroyed, without any residue all the diseases like Raga (lust, anger,
greed, arrogance, jealousy, selfishness, ego), which are constantly
associated with the body, which is spread all over the body, giving rise
to disease, delusion and restlessness. This salutation is done to Lord
Dhanwantari.
To achieve the purpose of life, that is 1. Dharma – following the path of righteousness 2. Artha – earning money in a legal way 3. Kama – fulfilling our desire 4. Moksha – achieving Salvation, To achieve this purpose of life, one should concentrate on having a long life. To learn the science of Ayurveda, which explains how to achieve this purpose, ‘obedience’ (Vidheya) is the most important quality. |
| Origin of Ayurveda |
Lord Brahma, remembering Ayurveda, taught it to Prajapathi, he in turn taught it to Ashwini Kumaras (twins), they taught it to Sahasraksa (Lord Indra), he taught it to Atri’s son (Atreya Punarvasu) and other sages, they taught it to Agnivesa and others and they (Agnivesha and other disciples ) composed treatises, each one separately. |
| Branches of Ayurveda |
1. Kaya Chikitsa – General medicine 2. Bala Chikitsa – Paediatrics 3. Graha Chikitsa – Psychiatry 4. Urdhvanga Chikitsa – Diseases and treatment of Ear, Nose, Throat, Eyes and Head (neck and above region) 5. Shalya Chikitsa – Surgery 6. Damshrta Chikitsa – Toxicology 7. Jara Chikitsa – Geriatrics 8. Vrushya Chikitsa – Aphrodisiac therapy These are the eight branches of Ayurveda.
Vayu – Vata, Pitta and kapha are the three Doshas of the body. Perfect balance of three Doshas leads to health, imbalance in Tridosha leads to diseases.
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| How Thridosha are Spread in Body and in a Day? |
The Tridosha are present all over the body, but their presence
is especially seen in particular parts.
If you divide the body into
three parts,
the top part upto chest is dominated by Kapha Dosha, between chest and umbilicus is dominated by Pitta, below umbilicus part is dominated by Vata. Similarly, in a person’s life, day and in night (separately), the first part is dominated by Kapha, second part is dominated by Pitta and third part is dominated by Vata.
While eating and during digestion, the first, second and third part are dominated by Kapha, Pitta and Vata respectively. |
| Types of Digestive Fires |
There are four types of Digestive fires (Agni)1. Vishama Agni – Influenced by Vata.A person with Vishama Agni will sometimes have high appetite, and sometimes, low appetite.2. Teekshna Agni - Influenced by Pitta.A person with Teeksna Agni will have high digestion power and appetite.3. Manda Agni - Influenced by Kapha.A person with Manda Agni will have low digestion power and appetite.4. Sama Agni - Influenced by perfect balance of Tridosha –Where person will have proper appetite and digestion power. Digestion occurs at appropriate time.
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| Types of digestive tracts / nature of bowels. |
| There are three types of digestive tracts (Koshta):
1. Kroora Koshta – wherein the person will take long time for digestion. The bowel evacuation will be irregular. It is influenced by Vata. 2. Mrudu Koshta – Sensitive stomach, has a very short digestion period. Even administration of milk will cause bowel evacuation. 3. Madhya Koshta – Proper digestive tract, bowel evacuation at appropriate times. It is influenced by Tridosha balance.
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| Types of Prakruti – Body Types |
Like the poison is natural and inherent to poisonous insects,
similarly, the Prakruti (body type) is inherent to humans. The body type
is decided during conception, based on qualities of sperm and ovum.Vata prakruti – Vata body type is considered as low quality Pitta Prakruti – Pitta body type is considered as moderate quality Kapha Prakruti – Kapha body type is considered good quality. Tridosha body type – influenced equally by Vata, Pitta and Kapha is considered the best quality. Dual body types, Like Vata-Pitta, Pitta-Kapha, Vata-Kapha body types are considered as not good. |
| Qualities of Vata |
Rooksha – dryness Laghu – Lightness Sheeta – coldness Khara – roughness Sookshma – minuteness Chala – movement These are the qualities of Vata.
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| Qualities of Pitta |
Sasneha – slightly oily, unctuous Teekshna – piercing, entering into deep tissues Ushna – hotness Laghu – lightness Visram – bad smell sara – having fluidity, movement drava – liquidity are the qualities of Pitta.
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| Qualities of Kapha |
Snigdhna – oily unctuous Sheeta – cold Guru – heavy Manda – mild, viscous shlakshna – smooth, clear Mrutsna – slimy, jely sthira – stability, immobility are the qualities of Kapha.
The increase, decrease of individual Doshas, or imbalance of couple of these Doshas is called as Samsarga. And imbalance of all the three Doshas together is called as Sannipata.
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| Body Tissues |
Body tissues and waste products are called as Dushyas. Means,
there are influenced, and affected by Doshas. Body tissues are -1. Rasa - the first product of digestion, Soon after digestion of food, the digested food turns into Rasa. It is grossly compared to lymph or plasma. 2. Rakta – Also called as Asruk. – Blood 3. Mamsa – Muscle 4. Meda - Fat tissue 5. Asthi - Bones and cartilages 6. Majja - Bone marrow 7. Shukra – Semen / Ovum or entire male and female genital tract and its secretions are grossly covered under this heading.
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| Waste Products |
Mala – waste productsShakrut / Pureesha – (faeces) Sweda (sweat) and Mootra (urine) are the three waste products of the body.
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| Nature of Increase and Decrease |
Equal qualities lead to increase, and opposing qualities lead to
decrease.
For example, dryness is the quality of Vata. If a Vata body type person exposes himself to dry cold weather, his dryness and in turn Vata will increase, leading to dry skin. In the same way, oiliness is opposite quality of dryness. If he applies oil to the skin, then the dryness and related Vata is decreased.
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| Six Tastes |
Svadu(Madhura) – sweet, Amla – Sour, Lavana – Salt, Tikta – Bitter, Ushna (Katu) – Pungent, Kashaya – Astringent are the six types of Rasa. They are successively lower in energy. That means, Sweet taste imparts maximum energy to body and the astringent, the least.
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| Effect of Tastes on Tridosha |
In the list of tastes,
the first three, i.e. Sweet, sour and salt mitigates Vata and increases Kapha. The last three, i.e. bitter, pungent and astringent tastes mitigates Kapha and increases Vata Astringent, bitter and sweet taste mitigates Pitta. Sour, salt and pungent tastes increase Pitta.
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| Types of Food Substances: |
Shamana – Food that brings down the increased Dosha to normalcy Kopana – Food that increases the lowered Dosha to normalcy Swasthahita - Food that maintains the normalcy of Tridosha and health.
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| Types of Potency (Veerya) |
Ushna veerya (Hot potency) -Some food items are hot in nature.For example pepperSheeta veerya (cold potency) - Some food items are cold in nature.For example milk. These are the two types of potencies. Generally, substances that have Astringent, bitter and sweet tastes are coolant in nature and Sour, salt and pungent tastes are hot in nature. |
| Three Types of Vipaka |
Vipaka refers to conversion of taste after initial phase of
digestion.
Madhura Vipaka (sweet) – Generally, Sweet, and salt tastes undergo this Vipaka. Amla Vipaka (Sour) – Sour taste undergoes this Vipaka Katu Vipaka – rest of the tastes – Bitter, astringent and pungent tastes undergo this Vipaka.
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| Twenty Types of Qualities |
Guru(heavy) X laghu (light in weight) Manda(slow) X tiksna(quick,fast) Hima (cold) X ushna (hot) Snighda (unctuous) X ruksa (dry) Slaksna (smooth) X khara (rough) Sandra (solid) X drava (liquid) Mrdu (soft) X kathina (hard) Sthira (stable) X cala (moving, unstable) Suksma (stable, small) X sthula (big,gross) Vishada (non slimy) X picchila (slimy)
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| Cause for Health and Disease: |
| Less, more or wrong unison of time,
senses and functions is the reason for disease and the right unison of these three factors is the reason for health.
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| Definition of health and disease |
Imbalance in Tridosha is disease. Perfect balance is health. |
| Types of disease: |
Nija Roga - Disease caused due to imbalance in internal factors.For example, eating excessive hot substances, leading to gastritis.Agantu Roga - Disease caused due to external factors.Such as injuries. Both these types of disease can occur to body and mind.
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| Types of Mental Doshas |
Rajas – quality of mind, that drives us to take actions, Tamas – that leads to inaction and lethargy 22.
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| How to Test Patient? |
Darshana – by means of inspection, observation. Sparshana - by means of touching Prashna – by means of asking |
| Examination of Disease: |
Disease should be examined by its
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| Types of Habitat (Desha) |
In this science, is said to be of two kinds -Bhumi desha – region of land and Dehadesha – the body. Bhumi desa - land region is of three kinds of viz, Jangala -which is predominant of vata– arid or desert-like land with no mountains or hills, has less vegetation, poor water resourses and is more breezy.Anupa - which is predominant of kapha- marshy land with more of water, more vegetation , very less of sunlight and heat.Sadharana which has all Tridosha in balance- moderate type with few mountains , hills, moderate water, vegetation and sunlight. |
| Kinds of Time: |
| Two kinds are considered-
one is normal time, another – stages of diseases.
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| Types of Medicines: |
There are two types of medicines.
1. Shamana - Palliative treatment – which brings the Dosha to normalcy, useful in initial stages of diseases 2. Shodhana – Purification treatment – which expels imbalanced Dosha out of body. – Useful in aggravated stages of diseases. Examples: For Vata – Basti (suppositories) is the Shodhana treatment, and oil is Shamana treatment. For pitta – Virechana (Purgation) is Shodhana and Ghee is Shamana. For Kapha – Vamana (emesis) is Shodhana and Honey is Shamana.
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| Treatment for Mental Imbalance: |
Dhee – improving intelligence Dhairya – improving courage Atmavijnana – Self realization are the means to treat mental imbalance. |
| Factors of Treatment - Chikitsa Chatushpada |
Bhishag (Doctor), Dravya (medicine), Upastha (Nurse) and Rogi (patient) are the four factors in treatment. Each of these four have further four qualities.
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| Qualities of Doctor |
Daksha – Alert, disciplined Shastra – Having detailed knowledge about diseases and treatment. Drushtakarma – Having practical experience Shuchi – Cleanliness
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| Qualities of Medicine: |
Bahukalpa – Ability to formulate in different dosage forms, like decoction, powder, herbal oil etc Bahuguna – Having enormous qualities Sampanna – Endowed with virtues Yogya - suitable and appropriate for specific diseases.
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| Qualities of Nurse: |
Anurakta – Compassion towards patients Shuchi – Cleanliness Daksha – Alert, active Buddhiman – Intelligence
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| Qualities of Patient |
Adya - Rich Bhishagvashya – 100 % obedience towards doctor Jnapaka – Good memory Satvavaan – Having good strength to tolerate disease and treatment.
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| Types of Diseases: |
| Two main types, which are further divided into two types.
Sadhya - Which can be cured. It is of two types – Easy to cure (Sukha Sadhya), Difficult to cure (Krichra Sadhya) - Which can not be cured. It is of two types – Yapya (medicine is required for as long as patient is alive), Anupakrama (nothing can be done. )
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| Qualities of Diseases Which can be Cured Easily: |
Sarvaushadha kshame dehe – The body of patient is able to tolerate all types of medicines Yunaha – Young patient Jitatmanaha – Patient having good control over sense organs, who follows abstinence Amarmaga – If the disease is not affected sensitive areas like brain, heart, kidney Alpahetu – If the cause for disease is mild Alparoopa – Mild symptoms Anupadrava – no complications Atulya dushya desha rutu prakruti – If the Dosha involved, Dhatu (body tissue) involved, Desha (place), Rutu (season) and Prakruti (body type) are not influenced byone particular Dosha, Pada sampadi - If all the sixteen qualities of Doctor, patient etc explained above are present,Graha anuguna - If astrology is in favour of the patient Eka Doshaja - Disease due toonly oneDosha Eka Marga - If only one body channel is affected Nava - Disease of recent origin / onset.
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| Qualities of Difficult to Treat Diseases |
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| Patient Worth Rejection: |
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