10/25
I was first dropped at Ayurvedic Doctor Gupta's office last week, on the recommendation made by the doctor I am currently living with. As I walked in, the doctor was sitting with his eyes closed, attentively tuned in with the pulse of a woman-patient in front of his desk. Taking a few moments to observe my surroundings, I happily scanned the shelves behind the counter lined with an array of medicines from my family's herbal production facility, you know, that sort of 'farm-to-table' feeling. But the most prominent feature in the small room is a board with a list titled "Important Points for a Patient," created by Dr. Gupta:
IMPORTANT POINTS FOR A PATIENT
1.) Even if you are sick and become a patient, you must never lose patience
2.) The greatest healers are GOD and TIME
3.) Keep patience and live peacefully
4.) Don't be angry and aggressive
5.) Be happy and don't be tense
6.) In all respects, keep giving respect
7.) Have faith in GOD and Doctor
8.) Prevention is better than cure
9.) Faith in God means no fear
10.) Doctor treats, God cures
11.) Early to bed early to rise, makes a an healthy, wealthy and wise
The duration of the consultation is a far more communal than private affair. Soon after taking his patient's pules the doctor motioned for me to seat myself on the chair directly right of the patient's, her middle-aged daughter occupying the seat to her left. I can't understand what they are saying to each other but it seems to relate to inflammation/bloating of some sort (?) by the gestures and expressions I perceive. By this point, the patient appears to have taken a liking to me, as I have to her. I offer whatever consolation I can through my expressions/intermittent verbal communication attempts and soon, she offers her arm to me and I'm the one feeling her place of discomfort! She expresses her feelings of distress. I just sit, nod, occasionally letting out a sound I hope resembles empathy, and send as much healing energy into that arm and body as I can muster.
As her daughter takes the notes and medicines from the doctor, the mother and I embrace one another before she leave as though we've been life-long companions on the way to separation.
The day continues, full of patients and no time for me to ask the doctor the page of questions I'd written prior to arriving. But the experience proves equally as informative as if I had had time to ask. Another patient, this time a man who spoke English, shared with me his condition and why he has chosen Ayurvedic of Allopathic medicine for the past 15 years. He had started taking perscrption medicine for chronic pain he was feeling in his joints but soon after developed serious deterioration of his small intestine due to the nature of the medication. With Ayurvedic medicines, however, he had repaired the damage of his small intestine and no longer experiences joint pain.
The reasoning I hear over and over again about why Ayurveda is preferred over allopathic is because 'It WORKS and there are NO SIDE EFFECTS."
Though traditional Ayurvedic medicines contain all sorts of ingredients that would seem unfathomable to the Western paradigm- metals, stones, and cow urine, for example, are all fairly common ingredients- the results are consistently positive. When using allopathic drugs, additional negative effects are practically inherent.
The working day ends before I've really had much of a chance to talk with the doctor, so he kindly invites me to return the following day.
But the following day, instead of continuing with the question-answering process himself, he leads me outside, down a pathway and upstairs to a slightly more extensive clinical center. Past the main entrance and into a side room, he introduces me to two individuals. "Masters" he says, "My teachers; much smarter than me." This is hard for me to imagine, as this particular doctor looked no younger than 75. I try to explain to them what I am doing (I suppose it is a little bit confusing...'no, I don't have any real history with Ayurveda...no, I'm not certain I want to be a doctor..but yes, I have traveled across the world to learn what you have to share, even though neither of us knew of the other's existence until moments ago'). Still, they accept my proposal, telling me to return the next day.
So there I sit, with these 60 year-veteran Ayurvedic doctors (who I later learn to be a married couple) ecstatic to have all of my well thought out questions about health and disease answered by their master-minds.
I should have remembered my earlier advice to self: in India, control simply does not exist.
I don't think one of my planned questions was answered, except an incredibly trivial inquiry about sweet milk tea- drinking small amount before breakfast is quite alright. Instead, my fate was a sort-of lecture revolving around GOD.
"All mighty has given this wold..only meant for our benefit of medicine. God gives us a plant with many things: 5 for purpose, 5 to prevent side effects [exact numbers were irrelevant to to the point]. Ayurveda does not question God's wisdom."
He says it is Allopathy's questioning of this wisdom (taking the '5' for purpose and leaving the '5' for side effects) that lead to so many behavioral/physical problems, jealousy, suicide, etc. The male doctor does most of the talking but his wife, quite strictly, keeps his English and subject content in check. He continues to say very matter-of-factually that there will come a time when the tradition will be lost. That scripturally and experientially speaking, once something rises too high it must collapse; humanity is now on top, so it along with its traditions, must fall. I point out that such statements could easily be taken by some as slightly depressing, even making one question the point of life.
He throws up his hands, "Why? We are here to learn! To gather information! That is why we are taking births, to choose between performing good and bad works."
They motion up to a picture on the wall of a young man. It is their son, who is now deceased. They are doing their work for him. It is purely charity work. Although the man was once the principle of the Punjab Ayurvedic College, neither of them charge their patients at this point. Only if the patient must go next door for some treatment by other doctors on staff, then the charge is 70 rupees- less than $2.
Although the conversation was largely historical, philosophical/spiritual in content, I was grateful to also receive some insight into tangible ways of Ayurvedically living life and treating dis-ease. For now, I will just share a single point they both conveyed with equal severity of importance: the body's absolute need for proper digestion, which includes taking meals at VERY consistent time intervals- with consciousness and a clean emotional state- as being one of the largest ways to prevent the immersion of virtually every dis-ease.
Their routine is, for example:
*wake up early. Eat spoonfull of chawanprash and drink small tea
*45 minute walk
*9:00 breakfast
*2:00 lunch
*4:00 tea
*8:30 dinner
Only liquids/fresh juice in between meals!
Out of the three hours we spent together, I think it is very telling of Ayurveda that these two incredibly clinically-experienced doctors felt it in my best interest to relay with me the spirit behind Ayurveda above all other things. But it really is not even a perspective exclusive to Ayurvedic/Hindu tradition either; all religions/spiritualities I am aware of opine that the earth is part of "God's" creation also. Ayurveda is simply an entire medical system that takes such beliefs to heart, practicing and tangibly developing what so many scriptures and people around the world preach.
~on a side note, some strangely unknown, powerful and wonderful energy possessed me two days ago, and my head is now shaved. With my hair, it seems as though many lingering feelings of trepidation were simultaneously trimmed. Thank you, God?
ok, that's all for now.
love : )
I was first dropped at Ayurvedic Doctor Gupta's office last week, on the recommendation made by the doctor I am currently living with. As I walked in, the doctor was sitting with his eyes closed, attentively tuned in with the pulse of a woman-patient in front of his desk. Taking a few moments to observe my surroundings, I happily scanned the shelves behind the counter lined with an array of medicines from my family's herbal production facility, you know, that sort of 'farm-to-table' feeling. But the most prominent feature in the small room is a board with a list titled "Important Points for a Patient," created by Dr. Gupta:
IMPORTANT POINTS FOR A PATIENT
1.) Even if you are sick and become a patient, you must never lose patience
2.) The greatest healers are GOD and TIME
3.) Keep patience and live peacefully
4.) Don't be angry and aggressive
5.) Be happy and don't be tense
6.) In all respects, keep giving respect
7.) Have faith in GOD and Doctor
8.) Prevention is better than cure
9.) Faith in God means no fear
10.) Doctor treats, God cures
11.) Early to bed early to rise, makes a an healthy, wealthy and wise
The duration of the consultation is a far more communal than private affair. Soon after taking his patient's pules the doctor motioned for me to seat myself on the chair directly right of the patient's, her middle-aged daughter occupying the seat to her left. I can't understand what they are saying to each other but it seems to relate to inflammation/bloating of some sort (?) by the gestures and expressions I perceive. By this point, the patient appears to have taken a liking to me, as I have to her. I offer whatever consolation I can through my expressions/intermittent verbal communication attempts and soon, she offers her arm to me and I'm the one feeling her place of discomfort! She expresses her feelings of distress. I just sit, nod, occasionally letting out a sound I hope resembles empathy, and send as much healing energy into that arm and body as I can muster.
As her daughter takes the notes and medicines from the doctor, the mother and I embrace one another before she leave as though we've been life-long companions on the way to separation.
The day continues, full of patients and no time for me to ask the doctor the page of questions I'd written prior to arriving. But the experience proves equally as informative as if I had had time to ask. Another patient, this time a man who spoke English, shared with me his condition and why he has chosen Ayurvedic of Allopathic medicine for the past 15 years. He had started taking perscrption medicine for chronic pain he was feeling in his joints but soon after developed serious deterioration of his small intestine due to the nature of the medication. With Ayurvedic medicines, however, he had repaired the damage of his small intestine and no longer experiences joint pain.
The reasoning I hear over and over again about why Ayurveda is preferred over allopathic is because 'It WORKS and there are NO SIDE EFFECTS."
Though traditional Ayurvedic medicines contain all sorts of ingredients that would seem unfathomable to the Western paradigm- metals, stones, and cow urine, for example, are all fairly common ingredients- the results are consistently positive. When using allopathic drugs, additional negative effects are practically inherent.
The working day ends before I've really had much of a chance to talk with the doctor, so he kindly invites me to return the following day.
But the following day, instead of continuing with the question-answering process himself, he leads me outside, down a pathway and upstairs to a slightly more extensive clinical center. Past the main entrance and into a side room, he introduces me to two individuals. "Masters" he says, "My teachers; much smarter than me." This is hard for me to imagine, as this particular doctor looked no younger than 75. I try to explain to them what I am doing (I suppose it is a little bit confusing...'no, I don't have any real history with Ayurveda...no, I'm not certain I want to be a doctor..but yes, I have traveled across the world to learn what you have to share, even though neither of us knew of the other's existence until moments ago'). Still, they accept my proposal, telling me to return the next day.
So there I sit, with these 60 year-veteran Ayurvedic doctors (who I later learn to be a married couple) ecstatic to have all of my well thought out questions about health and disease answered by their master-minds.
I should have remembered my earlier advice to self: in India, control simply does not exist.
I don't think one of my planned questions was answered, except an incredibly trivial inquiry about sweet milk tea- drinking small amount before breakfast is quite alright. Instead, my fate was a sort-of lecture revolving around GOD.
"All mighty has given this wold..only meant for our benefit of medicine. God gives us a plant with many things: 5 for purpose, 5 to prevent side effects [exact numbers were irrelevant to to the point]. Ayurveda does not question God's wisdom."
He says it is Allopathy's questioning of this wisdom (taking the '5' for purpose and leaving the '5' for side effects) that lead to so many behavioral/physical problems, jealousy, suicide, etc. The male doctor does most of the talking but his wife, quite strictly, keeps his English and subject content in check. He continues to say very matter-of-factually that there will come a time when the tradition will be lost. That scripturally and experientially speaking, once something rises too high it must collapse; humanity is now on top, so it along with its traditions, must fall. I point out that such statements could easily be taken by some as slightly depressing, even making one question the point of life.
He throws up his hands, "Why? We are here to learn! To gather information! That is why we are taking births, to choose between performing good and bad works."
They motion up to a picture on the wall of a young man. It is their son, who is now deceased. They are doing their work for him. It is purely charity work. Although the man was once the principle of the Punjab Ayurvedic College, neither of them charge their patients at this point. Only if the patient must go next door for some treatment by other doctors on staff, then the charge is 70 rupees- less than $2.
Although the conversation was largely historical, philosophical/spiritual in content, I was grateful to also receive some insight into tangible ways of Ayurvedically living life and treating dis-ease. For now, I will just share a single point they both conveyed with equal severity of importance: the body's absolute need for proper digestion, which includes taking meals at VERY consistent time intervals- with consciousness and a clean emotional state- as being one of the largest ways to prevent the immersion of virtually every dis-ease.
Their routine is, for example:
*wake up early. Eat spoonfull of chawanprash and drink small tea
*45 minute walk
*9:00 breakfast
*2:00 lunch
*4:00 tea
*8:30 dinner
Only liquids/fresh juice in between meals!
Out of the three hours we spent together, I think it is very telling of Ayurveda that these two incredibly clinically-experienced doctors felt it in my best interest to relay with me the spirit behind Ayurveda above all other things. But it really is not even a perspective exclusive to Ayurvedic/Hindu tradition either; all religions/spiritualities I am aware of opine that the earth is part of "God's" creation also. Ayurveda is simply an entire medical system that takes such beliefs to heart, practicing and tangibly developing what so many scriptures and people around the world preach.
~on a side note, some strangely unknown, powerful and wonderful energy possessed me two days ago, and my head is now shaved. With my hair, it seems as though many lingering feelings of trepidation were simultaneously trimmed. Thank you, God?
ok, that's all for now.
love : )
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