Corruption of the holistic health systems.

 

Ayurveda existed as a preventive system of medicine with very few requiring the attention of a qualified ayurved. The strength lay in its philosophy that rested on "prana" or the life force within the person. The philosophy involved the elements; space, air, fire, water, and earth and their combinations vata, pitta, and kapha. Their interplay and excesses were recognized and could be dealt with mostly by rest, change in diet, mentality, and lifestyle.

Around 1930 a Commission declared that ayurvedic philosophy (Samkhya) was "religion" and its study and application was discontinued in colleges. Instead a disease name based system was propagated. This led to a drug based reductionist approach that has continued ever since. What has emerged is no longer ayurveda but herbalism. Drugs were there earlier but sparsely used. They were prepared by the Vaidya based on the constitution of the individual patient. The prevalence of this system and the discontinuation of ayurvedic education in the general population ensued that the knowledge base of the general population suffered a hit.

Today there are many dissenting sects within the ayurvedic system who are trying to get out of the mess.

Homeopathy was discovered by Hahnemann who was a mainstream doctor. He was opposed by his colleagues who refused to believe in it. However they were not without integrity and reason. They decided to read Hahnemann, understand the remedies, and apply them according to the stated principles. To their amazement they achieved cures. This led to widespread acceptance of homeopathy infuriating the quacks who formed the AMA to dissuade doctors by threatening them with cancellation of license.

Later the Flexner Report buried the entire holistic system and the colleges teaching them were closed. Hahnemann was brutally treated and he had to flee from one place to another, ultimately giving up the ghost. Homeopathy however survived and spread.

Homeopathy is based on the vital force, just as ayurveda. We all observe an intelligent energy in the physical frame that performs all vital functions. This also ensures health by resorting to acute symptoms when faced with any crisis. The common acute ailments of the body, mostly eliminative, are but the healing attempts of the body. The human body is a composition of biological elements and organisms that are very well synchronized to perform as a whole. The system is adversely affected by waste accumulation and toxicity.

What homeopathy does is to arouse the vital force with potentized remedies; freeing it of derangement which then results in its efficient function, restoring the eliminative process, and establishing a cure. The concepts of Herxeimer reaction and Herring's laws of cure describe the process.

Homeopathy was initially championed by mainstream doctors who resorted to the disease name based treatment. Hahnemann through his writings steered them to understand the value of totality of symptoms. Gradually over time the new concepts developed into what is termed classical homeopathy. This approach treats the patient and not the disease (an approach appreciated by William Osler).

In India a lot of effort went into "modernizing homeopathy" and making it "scientific". As a result the medical colleges teach modern medicine instead of homeopathy leading to very confused graduates. In my State I had taken up this issue and for many years pursued the same without any results.

Thus there are many groups in homeopathy who adopt the classical approach and try to fine tune it. The graduates then have to study these evolving systems to become homeopaths. It is an arduous process, and thoroughly unnecessary.

Currently there is a movement towards integrative medicine. Doctors of all modalities are converging to provide the best of all systems to their patients. New incumbents into these groups tend to fight but are made to see reason. This form of integrative medicine was what was dismantled by Rockefeller's henchmen. To be fair to Rockefeller he had wanted to also invest in homeopathy as it was the modality he and his family exclusively depended upon. He never tasted the brand of medicine ascribed to his name.

The doctors (of all systems) who want health and cures despair at the intense toxicity meted out by the mainstream. There is also no understanding about disease and health. Disease management is about disappearance of symptoms. It is convenient, deviates and absolves from the responsibility of ensuring cures and therefore there is a huge deficit in the understanding and knowledge that would lead to restoration of health.

Any genuine system of medicine should;

- Keep the healthy at the peak of their health

- Lead the unhealthy towards health

- Cure the sick

Cures are characterized by three things;

- Temporary worsening of symptoms

- A period of elimination

- Appearance of previously suppressed systems in a given order

Ayurveda starts with Panchakarma or cleansing/ detoxification.

The above are dependent on the strength of the vitality in the body, the nature and extent of toxicity, and the number of times and methods resorted to, to suppress the acutes.

If the vital strength is low, the toxicity intense, and the patient has suffered years of abuse, then cures become difficult. That is what is increasingly being witnessed today.

We are at a stage where mass deaths are set to happen. The demands for hospitals will give away to demands for crematoriums. But we should not give up hope. We should pray that sense percolates into the profession and the concern for patients' welfare triumphs over all other concerns.