Scientific secrets of Ayurveda and their practical use in application »

Science is systematic study of the nature and behavior of the material and physical universe, based on observation, experiment, and measurement, and the formulation of laws to explain these facts in general terms. Science is outcome of human quest about facts related to the existence and to discover the means to make life comfortable and happy. It evolves in every epoch according to needs, socio-cultural influences, academic atmosphere, economic and political culture etc.

As often commonly believed science is not a modern word and did not begin couple of centuries back. In fact, it started with the origin of life itself particularly the human beings. Because of amazing developments of science and technology we do not think about human intelligence which discovered agriculture, textile, means of transportation, weapons, cooking technique, housing and so on. These all discovered before the era of modern science. Surprisingly several of these ancient methods are still in practice. Besides the means to make life comfortable, ancient thinkers throughout the globe also took interest in explaining the happening in their immediate and distant surroundings including their own interiors. These thinkers are named as philosophers and their thoughts as philosophy. These thoughts were extraction of huge experience of the truth which was not observed merely by ordinary perceptive faculties but also with extraordinary perceptive tools. Therefore, it was not easy to express those observations with limited capacity of languages. As it was need of that time the scientific theories and techniques were described in poetic form that gave an impression of being ‘philosophical’ rather than scientific. This all resulted into a general distinction between ancient knowledge system as philosophy and modern system as science. A truth which could not be explained with ordinary logics and could not ordinarily be demonstrated was philosophy and opposite to this a fact which could be explained with ordinary logics and could be demonstrated in ordinary circumstances was science. Ayurveda is an ancient science which has mystic attributes of philosophy and explainable reproducibility of science.

Mystic descriptions of cyclic manifestation and unmanifestation of universe is an important theory in Ayurveda. If one thinks upon it deeply may find that the fact of interchangeability of matter and energy which was established by Albert Einstein in modern era, was hidden in this theory. There are several such concepts which are credited to modern science are hidden in the concepts of Ayurveda. The theory of blood circulation is credited to William Harvey (1628). However, brief poetic aphorisms from Ayurvedic texts explain it logically mentioning it as rasa-circulation. Caraka Saṃhitā gives brief account of genetics and genetic diseases using terms as bīja, bījabhāga, bījabhāgāvayava and bījadoṣa. Behind the three words of prāṇa, agni and apāna in description of pathogenesis of jalodara(ascites), the concept of disturbed cellular transportation and cellular metabolism is hidden. In same verse the terms sveda and aṃbu explain the disturbance of fluid and electrolytes in the disease. The concept of dhātupariṇāma beautifully indicates possibility of modern stem cell therapy. The concept of three roga mārga is very close to concept of three germ layers in embryology. Surprisingly the organs which are developed from these layers are very similar to the organs related to the roga mārgas. There are several concepts and descriptions which if explored deeply, one may find the scientific concepts hidden inside the poetic and aphorismic beauty of ancient Ayurvedic texts. These concepts if understood rightly helpful in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of diseases.