MEANING OF AYURVEDA

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MEANING OF AYURVEDA

MeaningAyurveda is made up of two Sanskrit words: Ayu which means life and Veda

which means the knowledge of. To know about life is Ayurveda. However, to fully

comprehend the vast s cope of Ayurveda let us first define "Ayu" or life.

According to the ancient Ayurvedic scholar Charaka, "ayu" is comprised of four

essential parts. The combination of mind, body, senses and the soul.

Mind, Body, and SencesWe tend to identify most with our physical bodies; yet, in

actuality, there is more to us then what meets the eye. We can see that

underlying our physical structure is the mind, which not only controls our

thought processes but helps assist us in carrying out day-to-day activities

such as respiration, circulation, digestion and elimination. The mind and the

body work in conjunction with one another to regulate our physiology. In order

for the mind to act appropriately to assist the physical body, we must use our

senses as information gatherers. We can think of the mind as a computer and the

senses as the data which gets entered into the computer. Smell and taste are two

important senses th at aid in the digestive process. When the mind registers

that a

particular food is entering the gastrointestinal tract, it directs the body to

act accordingly by releasing various digestive enzymes. However, if we

overindulge the taste buds with too much of a certain taste, such as sweet, we

may find that the ability of the mind to perceive the sweet taste is impaired;

and thereby the body becomes challenged in its ability to process sweet foods.

Maintaining the clarity of our senses is an essential part in allowing the mind

and body to integrate their functions and help in keeping us healthy and happy

individuals.

SOULAyurveda also sees that before we exist in physical form with the help of

the mind and senses that we exist in a more subtle form known as the soul. The

ancient seers of India believed tha t we were comprised of a certain energetic

essence that precluded the inhabitance of our physical entity. In fact, they

hypothesized that we may indeed occupy many physical bodies throughout the

course of time but that our underlying self or soul remains unchanged. What we

see to help illustrate this concept is what transpires at the time of death.

When the individual nears the time to leave the physical body, many of his/her

desires will cease to be present. As the soul no longer identifies with the bod

y, the desire to eat food or indulge in a particular activity that used to be a

great source of

satisfaction for that person drops by the wayside. In fact, many individuals

have been documented to experience the sensation of being "out of their

bodies."

These are just a few examples of how we are made up of these four components that we call life.

(TO BE CONTD.)

Dr.ANU. V. S