Nature of Disease and Road Back to Health

Dear Dr P,

Actually when allopathy first surfaced as the government sponsored medicine in India and came close to the common mass, it went against the common perception of disease being the offshoot of an unhealthy lifestyle. Ayurveda, though on the wane, had, over the years of its existence, inculcated in the people certain ideas about their daily and seasonal routines through the custom of dinacharya and ritucharya.

These included body cleansing and evacuation in the morning, daily yogic exercises, prayers and meditations, a diet consisting of all types of nutritions and other substances beneficial to the body, oil massage and bath, instructions as regards clothing and protection against the weather, external cleanliness, sandhya vandana, moral rules, social rules, duty towards the family and society, towards nature, environment and the animal world,  and also appropriate times for many responsibilities as per the astrological calendar.

The great emphasis was on observing religious and spiritual vows, duties towards religious leaders and elders, and also ones responsibility to ones family. In short the person had to give more attention to the welfare of others than on ones physical self. This was to expand his vision from being a selfish person to an altruistic individual, thus becoming an asset to the society. The effort was  also to render in him the qualities to probe into the nature of things, striving to learn about the permanent base behind the ever changing universe that he percieved through his external senses.

There was a great emphasis on the practice of Brahmacharya, wrongly referred to in english as celibacy. Brahmacharya is not entirely turning away from sex, but leading a very controlled sexual life so as to allow both enjoyment and procreation. The idea was to allow legal exercise of the sexual act without exhausting the body-mind complex and without breaking the rules of the society or marriage. Sex was to come from marriage and as one of the many expressions of love towwards ones spouse.

A person was required to be strictly celibate till the age of 25. At this time the emphasis was on education, physical exercise, Guru seva, and the refinement of the intellect and passions. It was taught that the control of sex led to better quality of sperms and hence better offspring. It was also emphasised that celibacy increased ones intellectual depth and stability as well as led to good health and energy levels.
After 25, the willing person married, frolicked with his wife as per astrological permission, which forbade sex on certain days of the week and month, sex during the daytime as well as sex during pregnancy till the child was breastfed, as sex during this period would turn the placental fluid and breast milk acidic, harming the child. They were also required to approach each other with reverence when they sought conception and a child. After the birth of a few children, the couple were advised to concentrate more on their duties towards their offspring.

I am not saying that allopathy was fully behind the destruction of the above procedure. Prior to its full inception, the many wars and famines had weakened both the social fabric as well as the health and patience of the individuals, the religious leaders too failed in their duties and became lazy and corrupt. Thus the people started resenting the social rules which became a burden in the changed circumstances. It was only in some pockets that the rules still were happily embraced by the people.

Then the people found a way to release the entire burden of their ancestral duties when and as western mores became accepted. Allopathy too introduced the notion that germs alone were behind disease and killing them somehow with antibiotics was the way to good health. The apparent success of antibiotics to tackle veneral diseases too was good news to a population accustomed to controlled sex and desparately seeking a release.

The inability of the allopaths to understand the connection between the suppression of acute eruptive and common diseases, tackling skin problems externally which led to an increase in libido and baser passions and also to a further fall in moral values and ethics and increase in the crime graph. Vaccines with their neurotoxins and heavy metals too affected the mind and totally vitiated it.

Thus the entire social system literally collapsed leading to a totally unhealthy lifestyle and, egged on by unrestrained intake of animal food, introduction of animal serum directly into the bloodstream leading to genetic contamination, a suppressive system of medication that did not try to find the true nature and cause of disease nor tried to maintain the prana shakti or vital force that led to greater energy and immunity, damaged the body with its toxic chemicals, and thus today we have epidemics of very serious chronic disorders that kill more than the acute epidemics of yore.

We wish that the allopaths consider the earlier prevalent views of disease and lead humanity back to health by combining their knowledge of the body with the higher philosophies of holistic therapies. The marriage cannot be but successful and will lead to an almost perfect healthcare. Man too would then learn from the mistakes and strive to amend his relationship with nature and its other inhabitants. He would also return back to the source of his life, the greater all embracing consciousness called Paramatman.

Thus you see, the patient, the doctor, medicines, diet, exercise, morality, ethics, social security and responsibility, legal enjoyment and entertainment, a spiritual and happy outlook towards life, care of nature and the environment, both inner and external discipline, all have their say in returning to good health. You cannot exclude most of these, concentrate on a few and say that the other factors are not the doctors responsibilty.

I have again been very verbose, please forgive me. I am addressing this letter to the entire medical community and not to you alone. I will be happy if you share this mail with your friends and get their feedback.

Regards,
Jagannath.