Naturopathy..mother?

[Guest guest]

Dear Dr.Jagannathji,

Namaste ! Thanks for the valuable information on Naturopathy ! Well but the

title you gave Naturopathy .....the mother of Ayurveda ! somehow I can not

understand.Ayurveda has been established way back in 5000B.C. in Vedic or

prevedic period.Its much different than the generalised principles of

Ayurveda.I know it can prove out to be a topic of debate ! But I have seen

many Naturopaths having very little or no background on Ayurveda, use lots of

Ayurvedic prescriptions, therapies ! But in reality it is not correct.

Naturopathy has also its good & bad points same as that of Ayurveda or for

that matter any other pathy ! But point I wanted to emphasize over here that

apart from both are close to Nature there is no parallelism in m any of

their theories.Rather theory like Panchamahabhoota of Ayurveda is much more

advanced than Naturopathy ! So we may say or we may not claim that way as

well that Ayurveda is the mother of all pathies except if I am not wrong that

of Traditional , since it has got simillar old tradition.

Thanking you,

With warm regards,

Dr.Aashish Phadke M .D.(Ayurveda),Mumbai

 

Jagannath Chatterjee

Naturopathy...mother of ayurveda

 

Talking about the secrets of naturopathy Dr Tiwari said that all diseases arose

because of deviation from natural laws and the urge to create an artificial

life. She said non-natural food, an artificial, often perverse lifestyle, and

the lack of knowledge of the need for both internal purity and external

cleanliness was the prime cause behind the health crisis today. She said that

the ultimate healer was the inherent vitality of the patient. The force that

regulates the intricate operations of the body and mind knew fully well how to

cure aberrations. But today's doctors, she lamented, began by treating the

natural purging urges of the body as disease. If there was loose stools, they

termed it diarrhoea and gave medicines to stop the motions. If there was

vomiting they stopped it abruptly. The purging of phlegm was termed as cold and

supressed. Skin eruptions were treated as infections and supressed. All this

suppression, sans the effort to set right the internal cause, resulted in

 

=== message truncated ===

[Guest guest]

Dear Dr Phadke,

 

Namaste. You have asked how naturopathy can be considered the mother of

ayurveda. I think it is a matter of perception. As the term naturopathy

suggests, it is a form of treatment gleaned from nature. So the right term would

be nature cure and not naturopathy. However today if you don't add a "pathy" to

a form of treatment very few would attach any importance to it.

 

It may be slightly inferior to ayurveda as far as results are concerned because

today disease has become very complex. However Dr Salila Tiwari was very

confident that nature cure alone is enough. As she will be personally monitoring

the complicated cases including terminal ones, we can have a first hand

experience about the effectiveness of the system. I will be watching from the

sidelines as I am a lay member of the alternative therapy hospital which has

allowed her to function from their premises. The idea is to provide medical care

at a very nominal charge to the weaker sections of the society. Earlier the

services of the hospital, which offers physiotherapy, yoga and gymnasium,

acupressure and homeopathic treatment, was entirely free. But this prompted many

to misutilise the facilities. So now a very nominal charge is being levied. (Rs.

12/- per physiotherapy session, Rs. 10/- per week of acupressure, Rs. 50/- per

month for yoga classes, Rs. 5/- per week for homeopathic

treatment and remedies). Very soon ayurvedic treatment will also be offered

including medicines and panchakarma. A separate floor is being constructed for

the purpose. I guess this will force some local ayurveds who have set up their

own panchakarma clinics to reduce their exorbitant fees.

 

Nature cure must be the oldest form of treatment. Even wild animals are known to

use the five elements and some basic herbs to treat themselves as has been

pointed out by me in the post, "Wild animals and their medicine chest", message

no 4679. I think even the Chinese system of medicine developed itself by

watching both nature as well as the habits of wild animals. I say this because I

know that the famous martial art forms of China are based upon animal/bird

movements.

 

Before ayurveda branched out as a distinctive line of study, the acharyas must

have depended entirely on nature. They had very fit bodies and led a very simple

but highly spirtual lifestyle. They did not like to contemplate on the body,

giving more importance to the soul. As Todd has pointed out, the early ayurveds

were treated as pariahs because they made the "mistake" of making health, a

materialistic subject, their aim of study. I too have read about this and

mentioned it in a post of mine. So for their basic needs the acharyas would have

employed simple means like the use of mud, water, sunlight, natural cleansing

and seasonal fruits etc to rejuvenate themselves. Ayurveda sharpened the skills

by the extensive use of herbs, minerals etc and more effective panchakarma

cleansing i.e. normal cleansing + use of oils and pastes. They also added

surgery.

 

I forgot to mention in my post on naturopathy that Dr Salila Tiwari emphasised

that herbs too were a modified form of the solar pranic energy which the agni of

the body embraced and utilised. I may add here that nature means not only the

earth and its natural contents but the entire Cosmos including the Superior

Intelligence. Therefore the knowledge of the acharyas concerning the

relationship of man to cosmos is also derived from nature. The acharyas

regularly dipped into the intelligent universe by utilising meditative powers, a

facility utilised by the early ayurveds to know the exact medicinal properties

of herbs and minerals. They prayed to the plants and trees to reveal their

secrets and gathered the answers that flashed in their minds. Is it not

surprising that even today's advanced tools are yet to disover the entire

properties of various herbs that are mentioned in ayurvedic texts? Nature as a

mother is always eager to nourish her children, a fact emphasised by Dr Tiwari

again and again. She narrated how patients writhing in pain would fall asleep

as mud packs were applied just like a baby falls asleep in its mothers lap. She

said it was no coincidence that creation is feminine or prakriti.

 

I am very enthusiastic about the initiative taken by Dr Tiwari to spread the

message of naturopathy because I realise that this would bring relief to the

poorest of the poor, a task which the Governments of many countries are unable

to fulfill. I have written how our Prime Minister has expressed concern about

the state of rural healthcare in India. It has now been finally decided that a

short term course will be offered to create rural doctors who will serve the

rural poor. But what is the guarantee that even these doctors will not neglect

their patients? The best alternative would be to teach the people how to

effectively treat themselves and also maintain their health as a part of their

daily routine. Meditation, yoga, knowledge of simple herbs and naturopathy would

do that very effectively. Only those very seriously sick can utilise the

specialised care of doctors.

 

All these are my personal views on the matter.

 

Regards,

Jagannath.

 

Ps: I am not a doctor. Therefore please address me as just Jagannath.

[Guest guest]

Jaganath

 

You have hit the nail right on the head. Health is a personal effort and does

not come from a doctor. I have been to India a number of times to visit my

Guruji who turned 87 this year. He always says maintaining good health is very

easy if one is spiritual. I see the same message in your mails.

 

If only I could attend the seminar Dr Bhate mentions!!! You Indians are lucky to

have such a tremendous spiritual heritage.

 

Keep going,

Bob.

 

You wrote:

 

Before ayurveda branched out as a distinctive line of study, the acharyas must

have depended entirely on nature. They had very fit bodies and led a very simple

but highly spirtual lifestyle. The best alternative would be to teach the

people how to effectively treat themselves and also maintain their health as a

part of their daily routine. Meditation, yoga, knowledge of simple herbs and

naturopathy would do that very effectively. Only those very seriously sick can

utilise the specialised care of doctors.