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| Leaches to be used for blood-letting treatments at Ayurveda Hospital |
How many pools of thought are there to swim in, I wonder? There must be infinite, but would it not be reasonable to assume that within one region of one country regarding one medical system, there might be a certain degree of uniformity? The answer is yes, but as for the degree, it is far more narrow than I could have imagined.
I've spent the last month in Mysore, Karnataka, with a brief dip into Kerala during that time. In Mysore, I lived with a woman who- besides the constant flattering she bestowed unto herself- was really a kind, gracious and helpful lady. Her Brahman status, doctorate degree in literary arts and experience with long-term-visit foreigners made her very well connected and respected in a variety of communities. The day after a serendipitous (of course) visit to her house and deciding to live there, she called her friend, the principal doctor of the pancha karma ayurvedic hospital in Mysore, who also teaches at its
adjacent university. He was a very busy man, but on behalf of my house mother and my genuine interest and dedication, he offered to provide me with one-on-one tutoring for as long as I was in town.
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| Venkatesh- would give medicine made from gold ash to to children every evening. Immune strengthening. No need for vaccinations. |
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| Treatment underway at Panchakarma Hospital for Arthritis patient. |
Certain days I would meet him in the big hospital, other days in the tiny clinic where he worked in the evenings and still others he met me at the house where I was living. The evenings/nights I spent at the clinic were the most enjoyable and rewarding. A beautiful older man, well-versed in the Vedas, named Venkatesh, worked at the small pharmacy. In the even smaller consulting room, three different doctors would come at varying hours/days. Doctor Basuraj, the man I was regularly being tutored by, came from 4/6:00pm-9:00pm after having spent the earlier portion of the day at the hospital; a younger female, Dr. Sujata was in between 8:00am-12:00pm; and on two Wednesdays of the month, the miraculous Dr. Aisha (who I will speak more of later) would spend all day seeing patients.
So here I was able to observe and meet personally with three individuals who shared not only the same geographical place of origin and medical schooling but the same clinic also, and STILL detect a relatively large degree of difference in their approaches to diagnosis as well as treatment.
Perhaps the difference between nature-based medical systems and their respective healers, and allopathic medicine and its respective doctors/nurses/etc is the same as the difference that exists between wild/heirloom crops and ones which have been modified to fruit in a certain way. Though diversity in the later exists, the diversity in the former will be much greater. Being a firm believer in the power natural ecosystems have to inform our social systems ('social-nature-mimicry' was actually the initial idea I had for the subject of this grant) I see such diversity as a positive, though potentially confusing, thing.
However different, their opinions were not necessarily in opposition to one another and did seem rooted in a similar place. Rather, the difference was due to the healers' personal sense or feeling. One might take a pulse while another only listen to symptom complaints; one might prescribe a prepared herbal syrup and oil while another (for the same symptom) would advise a topical application of leather burnt to ash mixed with coconut oil.
Does this make one any more "authentic ayurveda" than another? At this point in my journey, having already witnessed so many different approaches, I'd already started asking myself, "what IS ayurvedic, actually?" By definition, clearly it is knowledge of how to live a long and healthy life, but what IS that knowledge if its content is of such diverse knowings?
Its curious that now, after traveling for five months, such rudimentary questions are re-entering my consciousness. But now at least I am starting to arrive at answers that reach a more than superficial level of understanding. For example, I've begun thinking of ayurveda like a pizza. What is a classic pizza? Even this might stir up controversial responses, but I'd say that in general, the most basic response is: cooked dough that has been topped with tomato sauce and cheese. But dough, sauces and cheeses always have a slight or major variation in the way they are prepared! Not only due to the cooks' style, but due to the consumers' preference and needs, availability, and certainly many other factors.
So it is with ayurveda. What remains fundamental to Ayurveda is (among other things) the concept of the doshas, dhatus, malas and elements, which together explain the cause and cure of health and disease; but what precise measures are taken for treatment, however the problem theoretically got there (how to make a pizza, however it is theoretically made…) is where the true diversity as well as the true art of ayurveeda is birthed. And like all things, the form the art takes is a product of one's nature and her/his experience.
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| Preparation of the ayurveda's famous "Chywanprash"- a 3+ day process |
The owner of the 90-year-old ayurvedic medicine production company that sold medicines to the clinic I spent time at, explained ayurveda in a way that seemed more genuine to what I have experienced ayurveda as being rather than based only on theory or faith. He said, "Ayurveda is not from one part of India any more than another. It developed as small systems of medicine from place to place around India with herbs/minerals/foods/animal products based on the locality." It only became the classical medical system of INDIA, or of the Hindus, after conferences began taking place to put together notes and merge information.
Today in India, the government allows anything herbal to be titled as ayurvedic, its potency gauged on the 'active' constituents being standardized at a certain level. The man with whom I was speaking felt this was ludicrous, maintaining that classical ayurveda and ayurveda of antiquity would gauge the plant-medicines' potency on factors like growing conditions, time of harvest and method of preparation- the more local, wild and un-mechanically/synthetically processed the better.
To me, this intuitively feels correct and makes ayurveda more universally applicable. Still, my experience continues demonstrating that more important that any theory or particular system of healing is the healer her/himself. I admired to style and teachings of all three doctors who worked at the clinic where I was spending time, all for very different reasons. But I will write here about Dr. Aisha. Like I said previously, he only worked at the clinic once every 15 days; the others are spent at a different clinic where the lines extend for 100+ people and are usually a two hour to wait. So, I was ever so grateful that at the particular time I was at the 'vacation' clinic, patients were sporadic and he felt energy enough to spend time with me.
Dr. Aisha is one of those healers, the ones you hear come from exotic places like south India, having certain gifts/powers that are easily spoken of through the mouth, but difficult to completely believe in the head.
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| Dr. Aisha |
Unlike many other doctors/men I have met since the start of my travels, Dr. Aisha was not at all egotistical or patronizing. He expressed curiosity about me in as honest of a way as I expressed curiosity about him. Practically, he was just as much a highly capable herbalist as a medical doctor. He could recognize 4.5 thousand plants and in his prescriptions, would recommend whole plants/seeds as often or more than prepared medicines. In fact, he did not believe the ayurvedic medicine production business would survive as it is too costly for many Indians.
What really made this man stand out, though, was his being the only person recognized in India to read seven different pulses (as opposed to the still very impressive three read by ayurvedic doctors) due to the oath he took with his guru, who had the same supreme mastery. Dr. Aisha told me at one point that for all, there is a supreme power. That it is knowledge + inspiration or soul power that are the essential ingredients for one to become master. In addition to taking the three or so minute pulse reading (after which he provided patients with their pulse rate, blood pressure, two types of blood sugar, HDL and LDL cholesterol, creatinine and hormone levels, and other information depending on the case) he would examine the back of the tongue, from which he could determine visually the health of every organ in the body. I had been tested clinically for much of the information he gave me, and the diagnosis of both were nearly identical, including the specific lumbar vertebrae that are out of alignment in my back. He also informed me that I had a liver infection, something I would not have guessed, even though I had been feeling a discomfort in that area of my body for the past couple of weeks. For my particular condition, he prescribed 'isomgog seeds,' claiming they would work as a surgeon, taking care of everything out of balance. For all of what Dr. Aisha had in what seemed to be cosmic brilliance, his recommendations were generally of a simple nature, and his total presence /calm with each patient (I later visited his usual clinic, where the line would have indeed been at least a two hour wait) was inspiring along with a great teaching.
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I left India and am now in Nepal, writing on the computer of the lovely Nepali family I met while in Nepal 3 years ago.
Even upon arriving at the airport I could feel an extreme difference between countries/people. I don't know what exactly at this point creates such a strong energetic difference, but will likely get a better clue as time passes. All I know at this point is that I feel more at cultural/personal ease than I have since leaving the states, even though I am living in and am surrounded by far more humble conditions. And to top it off, I will begin my apprenticeship the Sarita Shrestha, the individual who comes closer to someone I could call my 'medicine guru' than anyone else. If time avails its self to anyone, I would highly recommend reading the book by Michael Crow titled, "In Search of the Medicine Buddha" in which a certain chapter highlights Sarita and her work. 