Wednesday 28 December 2011

Extremes brought to balance


 This past month has placed me in a role of witness, customer and worker within a spiritual/healing supermarket.  Rishikesh, located directly along side India's holiest body of water- the Ganges river- set also among mountains as a gateway to the Himalayas.  It has been a pilgrimage stop for years, due to its position, temples, ashrams and overall positive energy.
Today, it serves the same purpose but with probably 50% more the marketing and outward glamorization of such pursuits then it did 50 or even 25 years ago.  Yet, this development was one of the reasons I was so keen to 'briefly" visit; how has modernization along with increased tourism positively and/or negatively influenced the quality of ancient Indian healing modalities, specifically, Ayurveda?

As usual, I began by getting sick, this time with a high fever.  Hooray! More inspiration and focus for research! After regaining strength enough to move and think clearly, I decided to finally purchase the four-volume ayurvedic texts by the renowned Charaka, both to learn about fever and have on hand for the rest of my life.  Ayurvedic classics extend beyond this man's works, but his contribution was arguably one of the greatest and most influential. The material here is said to have been passed down initially by the Hindu Lord Brahma, down from one divinity to another, and then finally into the hands of human sages. It was finally Charaka who wrote down and published the texts now titled "Charaka Samita." .

From the chapters listed in the table of contexts, these books seem to contain the solutions to every possible human health condition and maintain throughout that at the root level, all sickness is due to an imbalance of the doshas OR to an "evil spirit"- aka organism.  Still, the solutions are rarely ever simple.  To really begin treating fever for instance, one must first diagnose which of about 120 varying types it might be.  And even if correctly diagnosed, to treat exactly according to Charaka would be very complicated it seems for the average Indian man or woman, let alone for individuals in other parts of the world where the majority of prescribed herbal/other concoctions are inaccessible.  Of course, these texts are really only meant to be read/used by individuals in the later part of their Ayurvedic studies, either at the university or with family mentors. So I decided to bring them in to go over with the doctor I'd been spending time observing and conversing with lately.  Dr. Arun Sharma  could clearly connect to a contemporary clientele though much of his training was received under traditional, strict ayurvedic mentorship where no modern diagnostic methods (blood tests, etc) were used. During my stay, he was completely welcoming of presence and generous with his time, sharing my enthusiasm of the subject, making certain I understood what he was explaining all along the way.  

As time passed, I came to perceive the 'supermarket' quality of  the area simply as a commercial demonstration of the wide breadth of India's ancient wisdom.  And ultimately, upon deeper contemplation, it is evident that the nearly all-encompassing intention is but one: to purify the mind and body for the purpose of realizing true harmony in life and subsequently, enlightenment.  One can separate India's classical ayurveda, yoga, meditation, astrology, music, etc. but theories behind and experiences within each have all essentially sprung from and towards a similar paradigm. 

So, while in Rishikesh, I decided to take part in some of the peace-health-frenzy.  I continued to meet with the doctor occasionally, began a daily morning zen meditation, took the occasional yoga class, a couple of classical India violin and and sitar lessons, received and ayurvedic massage and even a quite astonishing vedic astrology reading from a world renowned astrologist who happens to reside in Rishikesh.  The guest house I was staying in even turned into a sort of alternative health clinic; a man from Russia had his weightless exercise harnesses and computer 'bodily-electric-impulse" technology, the older woman from Germany who rents a room on the top floor offered ora/shakra readings, and a long-term guest from France happened to be a reiki master.  And yes, I dabbled in them all!  Simon, who met me in Rishikesh, commented that my apparent butterfly nature of hopping from one wellness flower to the next would  just bring about more confusion.  And the entire time, I agreed completely.  But this was a crucial part of my experiential learning.  To not be told but FEEL, that  no matter the merit behind one philosophy or particular way of being, experiences of peace dependent on others can only be relatively short lived.  As for health, it is a condition inextricably linked to our mind state, whether past or present.

With that awareness, we headed to an open Vipassana course in Rajastan- where excessive external information has little/no room to enter- that would end on Christmas day.  Advice to all for an at once inexpensive and priceless Christmas gift: complete a vipassana course.  They are all over the world, non-sectarian and free to the public.  I can not speak to the details of any experience other than my own, but know from speaking to others after silence broke that similarities occurred throughout. It did not serve as a retreat or escape from reality as so many self-realization sorts of courses do; rather, it provided  the means of feeling and continuing to live in a reality of balance and harmony. 
Is this quality of experience at the root of why so many, like myself, take part in the mad health-rush of Rishikesh? Spend hundreds of dollars at rejuvination spas? Perform endless devotion to this or that god? Is this really why I am here?

~

On the way to South India now to live in an Ayurveda village for some time.  I feel so grateful, like the teachings presented one by one are continuing to present themselves at exactly the time I need them most. Or maybe that's just the way things work around this world.