VIKARA: AYURVEDIC DISEASE.
According to Ayurveda, health is described as the balance of the doshas, dhatus, and malas.
When this balance is disrupted, the consequence is vikara, or illness.
Vikara has a number of synonyms, each of which describes a distinct feature of illness, such as:
1. Vyadhi: ‘pain,' which literally refers to a pricking pain but may also relate to the feeling of suffering.
2. Papa: ‘evil' or ‘sin,' refers to the ahamkara (‘ego'), which maintains the illusion of identity, of being distinct from the Whole, via its wants and ignorance.
This kind of attitude leads to a downward cycle of disintegration and illness.
3. Ama: ‘undigested food,' alluding to poisons and waste materials that interfere with metabolic functions.
4. Badha: 'trouble,' alluding to disease's impediment and difficulties to spiritual development.
5. Dukha: ‘sorrow' or ‘work,' alluding to the grief and additional labor brought on by illness.
The origin of the modern English term "illness" implies that the "ease" with which people go about their daily lives is hampered or impeded in some manner.
- While illness may be inconvenient, it frequently strikes at the heart of our being, questioning fundamental beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.
- As a result, disease has deep lessons to teach, offering chances for a greater understanding of life and death.
Disease and death are great instructors, and they should be respected, welcomed, and understood, and given our full attention and care in this regard.
- Others may claim that some illness is a meaningless, random occurrence, despite the fact that Ayurvedic medicine views the nature of vikara to be deep and significant.
- In many instances, it seems as though a sickness is unconnected to causes outside one's control, such as influenza or the plague, which appear to strike anybody at any time.
According to Ayurvedic medicine, no illness is a random occurrence:
- It is firmly constructed on the foundation of past acts, some of which may be beyond our comprehension, particularly if we insist on identifying a single causal cause.
- Rather of blaming an outbreak on a viral or bacterial infection, Ayurvedic medicine examines co-factors including food, lifestyle, and the environment.
In the event of epidemic illness, an Ayurvedic physician would look at individual variables like agni and ojas, as well as the time of year and the health of the environment.
- Treatments would be provided to manage the illness in a symptomatic manner, but the ultimate goal is to enhance agni and feed ojas, as well as make any required changes to the surroundings.
The distinction of illness states is emphasized heavily in the Western medical paradigm, and also in later Ayurvedic teachings.
- While this is a realistic method, it is a process that will eventually result in knowledge fragmentation.
- Ayurvedic medicine has completed this process to some degree since, as a traditional discipline, the number of fundamental illnesses has not been increased for millennia.
In contrast, despite a relatively restricted materia medica, the number of illnesses reported in contemporary medicine continues to rise.
- As a result, modern medicine has grown more specialized, to the point where finding a medical practitioner who is skilled in a range of specialities, such as gastrointestinal, obstetrics, and infectious disease, is becoming increasingly uncommon.
Ayurvedic doctors, on the other hand, have historically treated all types of illnesses in both men and women, as well as domesticated animals like horses and cows.
- Ayurvedic doctors claim to practice the "knowledge" (veda) of "life" (ayus), specializing in the manifestation of this life principle and the individual living bodies that result from it.
- According to Ayurveda, there are almost as many illnesses as there are individuals who suffer from them, since each ailment is caused by a unique combination of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual elements.
- These variables are then evaluated using relativistic theories like tridosha and agnisomiya (agni and ojas).
Ayurveda has an advantage over the fragmented science of pathology in that illness may be viewed as a manifestation of relatively basic principles when looking at the body as a whole and trying to comprehend the flux exhibited in the doshas.
- ‘The physician who knows not the name of the illness, but recognizes and understands the effect of the doshas, should never feel ashamed,' says the Astanga Hrdaya.
PANCAVIDHA KARAN - THE FIVE CAUSES OF DISEASE ACCORDING TO AYURVEDA
All illness is shown by the rise and vitiation of the doshas, according to Ayurveda.
In general, there are five main variables that influence the dos, such as:
1. Asatmyendriyartha: a misalignment of sense objects (stimuli) and jnana indriyas (‘sense organs').
2. Prajnaparadha: treasonous acts against knowledge
3. Seasonal, climatic, biological, and geological variables affecting kala and desa
4. Karma: the cause-and-effect connection between ideas and deeds arising from the endless cycles of birth, life, and death.
5. Ama: endogenously or exogenously produced poisons and waste materials.
1. Asatmyendriyartha: SENSE AND SENSE OBJECTS IN DISEASE
Asatmyendriyartha is split into three categories related to the use of one's senses as the initial causes of illness.
(a) Atiyoga.
The first abuse of the senses is atiyoga, which involves overusing or overstimulating one or more of the five senses (nose, tongue, eye, skin, or ear):
- Smell: to overexpose oneself to scents and aromas that are extremely strong, harsh, or unpleasant.
- Taste: to consume too much of a specific food item or to overindulge when eating.
- Sight: Excessive staring at a specific item or at bright objects.
- Touch: to repeatedly expose oneself to high temperatures or to participate in excessive and indulgent kinds of tactile stimulation.
- Hearing: to listen to loud or exciting noises.
(b) Hnayoga.
Hnayoga refers to the under-utilization of the senses, which is maybe not all that frequent in our over-stimulated world.
- A kind of asceticism that deprives some types of sensory experience or persistently emphasizes one type of sensory experience over another is an excellent example.
- We have been given all five senses to utilize for spiritual progress, and ignoring any of them will prevent us from experiencing genuine spiritual growth.
Each of the pancabhutas manifests in the tanmatras, and each of them promotes a different jnana indriya.
- We can only acquire genuine insight into the essence of reality by comprehending the delicate nature of sensation.
The following are some examples of under-use: Smell: the avoidance of smells or perfumes that are otherwise pleasant.
- Excessive fasting or a monotonous diet are unpleasant to the palate.
- Sight: not moving one's eyes, changing one's focus, or remaining in the dark for extended periods of time.
- Touch: to stay away from personal love and contact.
- To ignore the sound of conversations or music, use your hearing.
(c) Mithyayoga.
Mithyayoga is the distorted or abnormal use of one's senses, whether via overuse or underuse, with the purpose of harming oneself or another creature.
- In many ways, the Western world's insatiable need for particular goods deprives those who create them of the opportunity to live full and entire lives.
- Our need for sugar, for example, has resulted in huge swaths of monocultured sugar cane, grown with herbicides and pesticides to replace indigenous crops in poor nations.
The social consequences of such aspirations alter social and cultural patterns in many nations, where traditional sustainable values are sacrificed in the sake of industrialization fragmentation.
Mithyayoga also refers to the pleasure derived from injuring or tormenting another person, as well as the pleasure derived from witnessing such actions (even in the form of a so-called "horror movie").
The following are some examples of skewed usage:
- Smell: to be exposed to poisonous, putrid, or other unpleasant smells.
- Taste: failing to follow proper dietary standards, as well as consuming spoiled, unpleasant, or poisonous meals.
- Sight: putting strain on the eyes by concentrating on small or distant things, as well as seeing obscene, frightening, or violent actions.
- Touch: to inflict bodily discomfort by touching damaged and uneven surfaces or filthy items.
- Hearing: listening to someone scream or groan in agony, exposing oneself to loud and frightening noises.
2. Prajnaparadha - CRIMES AGAINST WISDOM.
According to Ayurveda, the second cause of illness is prajnaparadha (lit. "crimes against knowledge").
These are actions carried out by a person with a body, mind, or speech that is impaired in some way in terms of understanding, intellect, purpose, or memory.
There are 12 factors to consider:
1. Natural impulses are forced out or suppressed.
Such activities disrupt the passage of vata in the body, causing it to become vitiated.
According to Ayurveda, there are 13 physiological desires that should not be repressed, as well as the consequences of suppressing them:
(a) Insomnia, fatigue, headaches, and ojas depletion
(b) Crying causes eye and throat problems, as well as disrupting breathing.
(c) Sneezing may cause headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, and respiratory problems.
(d) Breathing: dyspnoea, cough, ojas depletion
(e) Belching: cough, hiccough, dyspnoea, palpitations
(f) Yawning: tremors, numbness, convulsions, pran disruption
(g) Nausea, oedema, fever, and skin disorders are all symptoms of vomiting.
(h)Drinking: thirst, dehydration, constipation, tiredness, urinary problems
(i) Eating: poor appetite, malabsorption, hypoglycemia, mental/emotional irritation
(j) Urination: urinary tract infections, lower back pain, and headaches
(k) Prostatic hypertrophy, incontinence, sleeplessness, and mental/emotional irritation are all symptoms of ejaculation.
(l) Constipation, stomach discomfort, bloating, dysuria, low appetite, autotoxicity, spasms are all symptoms of defecation.
(m) Constipation, stomach discomfort, bloating, dysuria, and joint pain are all symptoms of flatulence.
2. Excessive use of violence.
This includes both overt and covert physical violence, as well as any damage intended upon another person or acts that hurt another being in any way.
- We create unwholesome karma and prolong the cycle of violence when we take out our wrath, fury, or frustration on another person.
- Instead, we should consider why we are feeling this way and find suitable outlets for them, as well as seeking peaceful solutions to situations when violence or aggressiveness seems to be the only option.
3. An excessive amount of sexual activity.
This argument particularly applies to males, who are thought to have a limited sexual capacity that varies with age and seasonal factors .
- However, it may also allude to overly indulgent sexual behavior that interferes with dharma (‘duties and responsibilities') and artha (‘generation of riches and plenty').
Sexuality was never seen as fundamentally ‘bad' or ‘dirty' or taboo in ancient India, as it was in the West, but rather as a natural, necessary, sacred, and valued form of human expression.
- Some Ayurvedic writings, such as the Astanga Hrudaya, include ‘steamy' sections about sexuality, while subsequent works, such as the Bhavaprakasa, take a more strict and patriarchal perspective.
Despite the fact that kama (‘pleasure') is an essentially positive and worthy pursuit, sensuality and sexuality, like all indulgent acts, are thought to contain illusory elements that can blind us to deeper insights and thus confuse our actions to the point where sexuality becomes an end in and of itself.
4. Delay in the healing of an illness.
Ayurveda believes every illness to be a clarion call from our higher self to attention to the preservation of health and balance.
- Illness and disease deteriorate when people refuse to acknowledge them or take the necessary steps to treat them, leading to an increasingly dismal prognosis.
5. Treatments that aren't suitable.
According to Ayurveda, we should seek the most suitable therapy for any imbalance or illness, one that focuses on resolving the root cause rather than masking the symptoms.
- Many contemporary medical therapies are aimed at symptom management rather than prevention and cure, and are therefore considered a prajnaparadha ('crime against knowledge').
6. Lack of respect for modesty and traditions.
In particular social settings, this point relates to acceptable and inappropriate behaviors.
- Ayurveda advises us to accept majority views and practices in order to build confidence and faith in our activities.
- Being aware of social norms integrates us into the social dynamic and eliminates constraints on how others see us, enabling us to fulfill our dharma with the least amount of difficulty.
- It also enables people to feel free to be themselves, even if you are advocating for change or reform.
7. Disrespect for the elderly and venerable.
Ayurveda advises us to treat people in positions of (spiritual) authority with the greatest respect and politeness, and to appreciate and honor our elders and seniors for their life experience and practical knowledge.
- This does not imply that one must compromise one's integrity; rather, one must establish an environment that is open-minded, non-judgmental, and respectful for the venerable.
- Most traditional cultures revolve around their elders' decisions, experience, and insights, whereas in our increasingly puerile society, elders and seniors have become obsolete, relegated to senior centers and resorts far from the children and adolescents who could benefit most from their grace, compassion, and wisdom.
8. Traveling at inopportune times and locations.
Ayurveda has long recognized that some seasons of the year are unsuitable for travel, particularly when the weather is severe.
- Even the traveling sannyasin (‘religious ascetic') would temporarily take up residence in a hamlet or a monastery until the weather improved during the fall (varsa).
- Vata is already stated to be in an elevated condition during varsha(rainy season), thus excessive motions like traveling would exacerbate the impacts of this seasonal propensity and enhance vata vitiation.
- At particular times, such as under a full moon or in the middle of the night, certain sites, such as burial grounds and cemeteries, were historically deemed deadly.
9. Friendship with those who defy knowledge.
According to Ayurveda, keeping connections with those who have little or no moral integrity exposes us to harmful effects that may lead to prajnaparadha.
- According to Ayurveda, these individuals do not need to be condemned, despised, or rejected, but we should keep a certain distance from them to avoid being influenced directly.
10. Abandoning excellent habits is number ten.
Indulgent attitudes, such as "just this time," may seem innocuous on their own, but they set a precedent for future incidents.
- Although the effects of these behaviors are frequently concealed until after the act has been done, the cumulative impact of these habits starts to build and create mental and physical imbalance.
- The only method to handle such behaviors is via mental and physical discipline, as well as compassion for one's frailty.
- Despite the inconvenience, the pleasure of maintaining this level of purity provides for a continual flow of spiritual energy.
11. Negative feelings and ideas.
Although it is impossible to completely eliminate negative ideas, Ayurveda recommends that we actively generate emotions of love, compassion, and charity to counteract them, and focus these good feelings towards ourselves and all other living creatures.
- We may be tempted to believe that our lives are tough and unjust, but if we can identify even one thing to be grateful for, we will have planted the seed for change.
- We realize that genuine fulfillment comes from turning within and, at the very least, feeling the tremendous force that supports and loves each of us, and being anchored in this.
- We stop comparing ourselves to others and start creating externalized pleasure criteria: we love ourselves so much that it becomes a wonderful romance, a deep love.
This is the sattvic force of aham kara, which the Buddha recognized in the Anguttara nikaya, when he discovered that ‘in whatever region of heaven I sought, none could I find whom I loved as deeply as myself' on his path to enlightenment.
- Because it is beneficial and leads to happiness, this big love affair is recognized as an aspect of all living creatures and is therefore acknowledged, appreciated, and shared.
- We become a well-spring of our own divine beauty when our hearts expand.
- However, even good ideas may confuse the intellect, and this is eventually recognized as a kind of subtle self-deception.
- Only the serenity and freedom of buddhi (‘pure consciousness') can reveal true knowledge.
12. Excessive, insufficient, or distorted use of the body, intellect, and speech.
According to Ayurveda, all thoughts, words, and deeds create karma, which will come back to haunt us at some time in the future.
- If we're fortunate, these negative things happen shortly after the act, and we may identify a cause and effect connection as well as an instant chance to remove an impediment.
- If we're unfortunate, this ripening may occur at some time in the future, maybe even in another life, when a cause-and-effect connection is difficult to see and may prompt a hasty reaction.
3. Parinama - SEASONAL AND CLIMATIC FACTORS IN DISEASE.
The third cause of illness, known as parinama, is associated with periods (kala) of seasonal and climatic fluctuation and distortion.
These elements, like asatmyendriyartha, may be divided into three categories:
- atiyoga (‘excess'),
- hnayoga (‘deficiency'),
- and mithyayoga (‘distorted').
Excessively hot temperatures or prolonged periods of rain, which may influence both pitta and vata, are referred to as atiyoga kala.
- Extremely cold or dry weather, which affects kapha and vata, is referred to as hanayoga.
Unseasonable weather, especially during the transitional times between seasons (rtusandhi), is referred to as mithyayoga, and it may exacerbate any of the three doshas.
- However, Parinama also suggests an ecological view of illness, implying that excesses, deficits, and distortions in the natural environment cause sickness in people and other living things.
This implies that humanity's connection with the natural world should be preserved and nurtured with respect.
4. DISEASE AND KARMA.
The blossoming of unwholesome karmic fruits, which only emerge when the circumstances are appropriate, is the fourth cause of illness.
- It's an obscure topic in some ways, yet it's one that can't be ignored, particularly when dealing with illness.
- If illness is a manifestation of karmic forces in whole or in part, the potential to see disease and death as a therapeutic path cannot be overstated.
Specific karmic effects may be observed in an astrological chart by the positions of Sani ('Saturn,' Rahu ('lunar north node,' and Ketu ('lunar south node,' according to jyotis, or Vedic astrology).
Specific practices such as mantra recitation, doing good deeds (karma yoga), praying to a deity for help (bhakti yoga), wearing certain colors, precious metals and gem stones, and avoiding negative thoughts can all help to mitigate the effects of unwholesome karma, but nothing can completely eliminate them.
5. DISEASE AND AMA
Ama, a metabolic and psychological residue that affects the function of the body, mind, and senses, is the fifth and ultimate cause of illness.
- Ama increases the vitiation of vata, the dosha most linked with illness, by obstructing the flow of energy in the body.
- Lethargy, tiredness, a lack of excitement, mucoid congestion, poor digestion, constipation, abdominal distension, orbital oedema, rectal itching, and a thick coating on the tongue are all kaphaja symptoms.
- Ama may be associated with any dosha, but it is particularly common in vattika circumstances, when the patient becomes weak and thin while still displaying kaphaja signs.
You may also want to read more about Ayurveda and Holistic Healing here.