The Philosophical Root of Ayurveda
'One of the ways in which the Vedic seers attempted to describe their experience of the indescribable was to call it 'satyam, rtam, brhat': ‘the true, the harmonious, the vast.’ Reality exists (it is true); it has a natural order or rhythm, which is self-perpetuating and self-correcting (it is harmonious); and it is all-pervasive, extending beyond the farthest reaches of the human imagination (it is vast). Even the gods must act in accordance with this cosmic order, and when they do not, they too suffer; the universe does not play favorites.
'According to the Law of Microcosm and Macrocosm, everything that exists in the vast external universe, the macrocosm, also appears in the internal cosmos of the human body, the microcosmic universe of 50-100 million million cells, which, when healthy, is harmonious, self-perpetuating and self-correcting. Charaka [the preeminent ayurvedic scholar who authored the 'Charaka Samhita' roughly 3,000 years ago] says, 'Man is the epitome of the universe. There is in man as much diversity in the world outside, and there is in the world as much diversity as in man.’ When the individual becomes aligned with the universe, the lesser cosmos functions as a harmonious unit of the greater.
'This perspective is no abstraction to the people of southern Asia; it is a fundamental plank in their personal reality. Most do not draw sharp philosophical distinctions between themselves as individuals and the environment in which they live because in their societies individuals are not distinguished as parts that can be isolated from the whole. This is as true of that grand society of stars and planets that is the universe as it is true of any human society; both are made up of, and continually redefined by, their constituent parts. A healthy system is made up of healthy units functioning together in a healthy relationship, and so the well-being of a particular individual cannot be separated from the well-being of the community, the land, the supernatural world or the cosmos. There is no individual so individual that he or she does not interact with the environment.
‘Because each one of us, to whatever extent, by our actions influences the entire cosmos for good or ill, health maintenance is transformed from one of life’s electives into a religious and social imperative…’
- Robert E. Svoboda, ‘Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity.'
'According to the Law of Microcosm and Macrocosm, everything that exists in the vast external universe, the macrocosm, also appears in the internal cosmos of the human body, the microcosmic universe of 50-100 million million cells, which, when healthy, is harmonious, self-perpetuating and self-correcting. Charaka [the preeminent ayurvedic scholar who authored the 'Charaka Samhita' roughly 3,000 years ago] says, 'Man is the epitome of the universe. There is in man as much diversity in the world outside, and there is in the world as much diversity as in man.’ When the individual becomes aligned with the universe, the lesser cosmos functions as a harmonious unit of the greater.
'This perspective is no abstraction to the people of southern Asia; it is a fundamental plank in their personal reality. Most do not draw sharp philosophical distinctions between themselves as individuals and the environment in which they live because in their societies individuals are not distinguished as parts that can be isolated from the whole. This is as true of that grand society of stars and planets that is the universe as it is true of any human society; both are made up of, and continually redefined by, their constituent parts. A healthy system is made up of healthy units functioning together in a healthy relationship, and so the well-being of a particular individual cannot be separated from the well-being of the community, the land, the supernatural world or the cosmos. There is no individual so individual that he or she does not interact with the environment.
‘Because each one of us, to whatever extent, by our actions influences the entire cosmos for good or ill, health maintenance is transformed from one of life’s electives into a religious and social imperative…’
- Robert E. Svoboda, ‘Ayurveda: Life, Health and Longevity.'
