Antagonists want Ayurvedic medicines to be known as preventive, even if it can give curative solutions. Calling it curative is good. If a vaccine gives a preventive cover against infection, can what is known as preventive be less equal than the vaccine? Ayurveda shows a long-drawn observational result of a formulation’s use, which underlines the prospects of an infallible clinical success. A sustainable result of a test on many generations throws more solid proof of the efficacy of a drug than clinical evidence that any drug dosage can render. Interestingly, some of the protagonists want to call the medicines quackeries owing to their ignorance.
Some people reluctantly accepted it and used it openly or secretly, as a trial that is not so harmful to health. The result was fabulous, truly a lifesaving solution. But none of them wanted to declare the secret of the result they took away as all of them were shy of admitting the truth that they used to rebuke once. The underlying facts will remain intact.
Ayurveda could prove that human beings could be saved from the pandemic through combination drugs and concoction as per classical methods. Not for any other reason than this, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, informed the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) that Ayurveda Day in India would be celebrated under the theme of Ayurveda for Covid-19. The larger commercial world may not take it digestibly. Truth is always indefatigable.
That is one of the secrets of Ayurveda’s unblemished history spanning over 5000 years. I am sure, it may not take a long time for people to understand the wisdom of nature. Covid-19 has opened a way to convince the strength of Ayurveda. That was what the unprecedentedly huge volume of sales in preventive and curative Ayurvedic medicines indicated in the days of pandemic, while the sales of most common modern medicines fell sharply. The world is now more open. Each corner is connected well. As the Union minister, Dr Jitendra Prasad recently said: “Covid-19 has evoked worldwide interest in India’s traditional healthcare systems like Ayurveda.”
Through the days of the pandemic, which has come as a wolf-attack we have learnt the fact. In the well-to-do western world when the departed souls were standing in queue for their last rites we were devastated by a fear of the Covid-19 storm. When one’s house is on fire he looks in panic for an exit. For many vulnerable people, Ayurveda offered an exit door to prevent a disaster. I have been a witness to this. Thousands of people have resorted to Ayurveda as a way out.
Sages of ancient India knew human beings and nature closely. They made their flawless healthcare doctrine accordingly. One’s wisdom leaves no space for an argument or doubt. Still, if an antagonist opens his gate for arguments it emerges only from his ignorance of what he or she proposes to deal with. I am sure, this is how Ayurveda has been looked at by its antagonists. I also wish the protagonists, who are obviously blessed vaidyas, to discard their shyness and declare that they are equal to their peers in modern medicines or more equal than others. The days of Covid-19 have said that fact in no uncertain terms.
As far as Ayurveda is concerned it is the observational result that underlines the prospects of clinical success. A sustainable result of a test on many generations throws more solid proof of efficacy than clinical evidence that any drug dosage can render. Over 5000 years ago, it was the actual human intelligence that could read the wisdom of nature without any support of a device or digital-driven artificial intelligence. Yet, their intelligence proved steadily accurate. They had preventive and curative solutions in their knowledge.
Over these long years, it has been the same planet where human life has been in existence. Modern devices like powerful microscopes could spot an inexplicably large number of pathogens and microorganisms that caused fatal and non-fatal diseases. But sages of ancient India had reserved a solution and scripted it for better living of human beings much before modern scientists saw the hostile pathogens through microscopes. Scriptures carry the pieces of evidence, which are not defied even by those who call clinically untested medicines quacks.
Pandemics have visited and revisited killing all the vulnerable ones. Modern medicines had no immediate solutions. Rishis of ancient India with knowledge of human anatomy, pathology and biochemistry knew what would help the health of human beings become resistant to sickness. The system was observed by every generation ever since for a precisely desirable result. Everything that we don’t care about becomes extinct. Its value is rediscovered in its absence later. That was what we could when pandemic stormed the world. Curative modern medicine was absent. Clinical scientists jammed the highway of research taking a long jump for developing vaccine instead of a quick curative solution. In chase for self-relieving news, we forgot to ask: “What was fundamentally a vaccine?” It is a preventive solution. Those who wished to call Ayurveda only as preventive solution did not wish to consider it as a curative solution. If vaccination is ultimately a preventive solution, what is wrong with Ayurveda, which is known for giving sustainable result?
In every pandemic, modern medical science used to fail. As the Covid-19 rattled the world, medical science resorted to ascertain observational results in which many precious lives perished. The results were discouraging. As a result of the failure, the world has been passing through a shock. Fear everywhere conquered people’s mind. As the days passed, the unseen virus pushed the world into a bigger fear for a huge price of human lives and human assets. The planet’s most dominant social animals have chosen to shrink into be isolated from their neighbours. Anything available for prevention has become acceptable, including that was dubbed quackery. Overnight, many people decided to remove the tag of quackery given to Ayurveda, which truly saved millions of people. Millions who took Ayurvedic medicines could brave the pandemic with the self-confidence of having good health even in a hostile climate.
The connotation of the ‘Sasthra’ of sages is greater than its meaning and mightier than what is meant by the mere dictionary word named ‘science’, though some may argue that both are of same analogy. Let’s remember its greatness as a precious lifesaver and pay homage to the sages for their amazing wisdom on this auspicious day. My best wishes to all the brilliant Ayurvedic physicians on this occasion of Dhanwantari Day.
Sajikumar Nair
Author
