Philosophical Writings

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

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Philosophical Writings
8.5. On Exorcism, Obesity, Laughter, etc.
A wide range of areas related to human illness is under active research. The so called notions or beliefs regarding exercise, obesity, laughter, blood cholesterol and even the good and bad sides of alcohol are turning to myths. The old rules once again become significant and the world looks again at conceptions expressed in Ayurveda. It has been in the right sense astonishing to see the vast literature on Ayurveda systematically produced along with the development of Indian medicine. The inductive method in Ayurveda itself is a great contribution to the speculations in the Indian medical schools. Ayurveda and other systems, like the Occult and even the Metallic pathology, are not simply a narration of inquiry and its procedures. They have also their ethics. One can clearly see how the ethical is related in the oath for a physician prescribed in Caraka Samhit 229a (see Appendix II). It deals with all the branches of medical science and also talks about human action. It talks about the three primary desires as the motives which cause all of our actions. These are: desire for life, desire for riches and desire for future life. Ayurveda has also studied gerontology and has given the causes and the cure of pre-mature old age through the process of Metallic pathology (Rasayan).
All the discoveries of modern science have shown that (a) matter and energy are interconvertable, (b)unity, harmony and connectedness exist in the universe (c) the observer and observed possess unity, (d) that time and space are relative. All these discoveries lead to Cosmic Unity which is the fundamental view of Ayurveda.
This paper will be incomplete without a further clarification; throughout these pages, very enthusiastically, I have tried to bring out the Indian standpoint regarding Philosophy and Medicine which is spiritual in its nature and holistic in its approach. In doing so, if an impression is created that modern science, modern medicine and other medical systems, like Allopathy or Homeopathy or Unani or Nature cure, are considered useless, then I must say that this