Philosophical Writings

Author(s): Hemant Shah
Publisher: Academy of Philosophy

Page 66

Philosophy and Medicine : The Indian Standpoint
According to Indian philosophy, as earlier said, life is one and an integrated whole. The living being, constituted from the body, the senses, the life force, the mind and individual consciousness or soul, is a unified complex. A person when born inherits the five primordial elements (Panch-Maha-Bhootas). These five primordial elements are earth, water, fire, air and ether. These are also the primordial elements out of which the world is made. Amongst them there is a harmony. When this balance or harmony in an individual or in the environment is disturbed, imbalance or disharmony takes place. Ayurveda accepts and adheres to this concept of five elements. The three vitiators are independent agents which work in unison with man's karma and also in unison with a man's mind. In Ayurveda we find a psycho-physical parallelism. Caraka, in trying to formulate this view, says: “The mind corresponds to the body and the body to the mind”. In fact, Caraka has discussed these three vitiators in great details explaining how they perform physical, intellectual and psycho-physical operations. Thus, the central theme of the Indian medical science is to maintain the harmony or the balance of the three life forces (Pranas), i.e., air, bile and phlegm (Vayu, pitta and Kapha), so that these will perform the operations constructively. An unhealthy diseased or injured person is one where the lost balance is to be restored. Volumes and volumes have been written to cover up almost all the diseases and disorders. Neither is it the subject of this paper nor is it possible here to mention the long discussion about the diagnosis, causes and treatment prescribed in Ayurveda. However, we will certainly examine some of the vital points of treatment discussed in Ayurveda, and the approach of the practitioners. Let us first see what, according to Ayurveda, is disease and the cause of disease ? What is the nature of treatment in Ayurveda ? 5. The Cause of Disease
It has already been mentioned that according to Ayurveda, vaya bile and phlegm are the three life forces. When one or more of these three fall off or exceed the proper quantity, one or more