An appeal for Ayurveda amid COVID-19 crisis
By The debate rages on. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which believes in Western medicine, has been given the authority to decide on how and what Ayurvedic medicines should be given to Covid-19 positive patients.
A government that bans cow-slaughter because cows are venerated in the Vedas, sahould on the other hand encourages Ayurveda because it has roots in the Vedas.
This discipline is the world’s oldest scientific medical system based on a robust philosophy of Sankhya and Nyaya darshana.
As Dr Ninivaggi has brilliantly put, “the world view of Ayurveda is essentially unitary and dynamic. There is no part of the totality of existence that is functionally separate or disconnected from any other.”
There is constant interaction among the three doshas: vata, pitta and kapha. These are regulatory principles of the body’s psychophysiological functioning.
Any experienced Ayurvedic vaidya would first attempt to ascertain the cause (nidana) of the disease, the premonitory symptoms (purvarupas), the symptoms (lakshanas) and attempt to treat the patient based on their desha (place), kala (season) and prakriti (nature).
Why would one expect ICMR to know about how an Ayurvedic vaidya goes about treating a patient.