Grow Trees, Eat Fruits

 I arrived in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, with the intention of staying at an 'ayurveda village' outside of the city, in order to experience first hand ayurveda, not just as treatment, but as a lifestyle.  The language here is Tamil (a language claimed to have a spiritual/energetic significance equal to Sanskrit). English, I soon found, was far less common then anywhere else I've traveled in India. The few people who did seem to understand what I was communicating- attempting to get on the right bus to find the address I had written down, that is- ushered me from one bus to the next, leading further and further out of the city, until finally the bus driver motioned for me to get off.

What stood in front of me was a large white building set against a small village and the blue-ridge mountains. The sign read, "Pavitra Nature-Yoga Hospital."

Hmmm....ok, this looks interesting....maybe they know where I'm trying to go...
The next five hours were spent learning about the spot I had landed from the founders' son, Shakti, who is also a naturopathiathic doctor.  The hospital had once been a small hut where Shakti's parents- Pavitra and Dr.Subramanian- would treat patients.  The couple had not studied at a college/university like Shakti, as these sorts of institutions for traditional Indian naturopathy are a relatively recent development.  Rather, they had lived in ashrams where living and healing in accordance with nature was instructed, and studied with a variety of different Gurus (teachers).  Their traditional teachings in conjunction with 30+ years of  personal experience was what made the hospital's structure and efficacy the way it is today.

This is not a place exclusive to the affluent, traveler, or relatively healthy person.  Rather, it treats all classes, rarely any westerners like myself and ANY DISEASE.  Be it immunodeficient/degenerative, diabetes,  mental disturbances, CANCER, you name  it- they will take the patient (who has usually tried all other known options), treat, and make significant improvement if not completely heal the disease.  Perhaps the most miraculous, however, is that the hospital treats all patients more or less the same way. What??? This concept would be totally ridiculed in allopathy; even Ayurveda differentiates based on personal constitution.  Shakti shares with me their philosophy, that it is due solely to humans living in an "unnatural" way that any and every disease is able to take seed and develop in the body. The hospital successfully heals countless patients because its routine of cleansing, purifying and nutritive measures puts the patients' bodies and minds back into alignment with the 5 elements of nature: earth, air, water, fire and space.  It utalizes what nature offers in its complete, unmanipulated form.  Because of the healing quality of the patients' diet while at the hospital, the family does not even perscribe any sort of additional medicine supplement, natural or otherwise.

The routine is so very simple, but strictly observed, including morning and evening cleansing (enema, nasya, oil pulling, eye wash), sun baths, yoga, pranayama and most importantly, intelligently designed LOCAL and organic diet (FRUITS being of the utmost importance) in conjunction with proper fasting. Oh, and a cup of freshly pounded, special grass juice around 10:30, reminding me of the times when I was a little girl and would pound grass with my mother's mortar and pestal, pretending I was making medicine.  However tremendous the efficacy of the hospital, though, Shakti and his parents emphasized that what took place there was just a formula, which was by no means 'trade-marked' by the hospital, but one in which the family intended for patients to learn and subsequently be able to apply in their day-to-day  lives. Both father and son trade on and off giving informational and inspirational lectures in the mornings to the patients, but also welcome anybody from the village to attend.

 

It so happened that a German couple was present, trying to cure an allergy, and that it was an option for me to stay if I wished, though the minimum attendance was ten days.  After spending two days at a near-by guest house, it became evident that observational learning in such a context was very limiting.  So, I checked in with, ironically, fairly good health (for once!).

  There were approximately 13 other patents at the time I checked in, some with live-in attendants. Three had cancer,  one younger boy was mentally ill, another older man had kidney failure, and another unable to  fully move his right arm.  A mother and daughter were there to loose weight and learn how to eat a healthy diet, and another woman, having just regained her periods after years without, had recently left.

At first I felt a bit out of place, this healthy, western, young thing.  I told  people that i was doing research...and that I was trying to increase my bone density and occasional back pain caused from a curve in my spine (which is actually true).

 

We all seemed to evolve into a sort of extended family after a very short  period, even though only a couple of people spoke English. The Indian ladies made it their business to ensure that the German girl and I always washed ourselves, our laundry and dressed correctly; the man with kidney cancer told his attndant in Tamil that if he spoke english, he would be my best friend.

  After the evening meal, the German girl and I would usually go into the family's quarters of the hospital and talk to Shakti, Pavrita or Dr. Subramanian, hearing stories from their own experiences/learning/perspectives about nature cure.  The content was vast and diverse, from Pavrita's aunt who had to go on a 40 day  fast, to their family friend, who only started eating cooked vegetables (as opposed to the purely coconut and banana diet he had been eating since his mother's breast milk) so that a woman would marry him.

 These stories coupled with what I witnessed taking place and personally experienced in the hospital secured in me a trust and understanding about this healing/lifestyleIe that I do not think could have existed otherwise, even if recommended by a close friend, health professional or read in a reputable book.  It totally shakes up and deconstructs the entire notion of what creates good/bad nutrition, and subsequently health/disease, by most all western and many other standards. .

  I understand with more certainty why different ways of eating and approaches to medicine have evolved~

 

*for the sake of working with what is available in the environment (pomegranates, grapes, etc. do not grow   everywhere in the world, let  alone year round) and on the other had, not utilizing vitamin-packed fresh local/organic foods when available.    

* Unwillingness to alter food habits, thus requiring acute-action
  medicines when sickness becomes present;

*Disbelief/lack of information regarding the universal healing power of proper food and proper fasting;

*Brainwashing from food and medical industry.
 

The essence of what I was seeking in Tamil Nadu most definitely transpired, though in a very different form than expected.  I am curious now to see  the methods and efficacy of the "Ma Devi Ayurvedic Hospital," which I will be interning and volunteering at in Nepal, starting in late February.  Dr. Subramanian told me upon my arrival that at Pavitra hospital, I would learn REAL natural healing, REAL ayurveda. Really, 'ayurveda' translates to, 'the science of life.'  And the way I see it, even if Pavitra Hospital didn't follow the highly complex formulas of ayurvedic scholars/sages Charaka, Sushruta, etc, they most definitely had  formulated an authentic and precious method of living- one that may even be more applicable and useful to the world at large than what is traditionally taught as India's Ayurveda.