In the beginning, Lord Brahma, gave the knowledge of Ayurveda to Prajapati Daksha, who thoroughly assimilated the gyan of ayurveda in its entirety. From Daksha, it went to the twin physician of gods, Ashwin Kumars and from them to Lord Indra.
Sage Bhardwaj, in his quest to help mankind achieve a longer, healthier and disease free life, reached out to Lord Indra through the strength of his tapas and received the knowledge of the science. From hereon, Atreya, Punarvasu and then Agnivesha and other sages learnt the divine science of life, called ayurveda.
Sage Agnivesha was the first to write the book of ayurveda, which was later, further advanced by Charaka and enriched by Drudabala to create Charak Samhita, as we know it.
LORD INDRA IN CONVERSATION WITH SAGE BHARDWAJ
Dharm (righteousness), arth (wealth), kaam (physical desire) and moksh (liberation from the bondage of desire) are the four basic pursuits of life.
Ayurveda is the concept of trisutra i.e. hetu (cause), linga (symptoms) and aushadha (knowledge of therapeutics, treatment and medicines). Trisutra is a blend of vaat, pitta and kapha, equilibrium of these sutras followed by intake of advantageous and abnegation of disadvantageous substance will lead to supreme happiness, overall well being and longevity.
Ayurveda is the science which explains the symptoms and remedy for longevity.
There are four symptoms of ayu: (1) favourable; (2) unfavourable; (3) happy; (4) unhappy
Ayu is the combination of body, which is made up of five elements (akasha- ether, vayu – air, tejas – fire, ap – water, and prithvi – earth), indriya (sense organs), satva (mind), and atma (soul). Ayu i.e. life has furthermore synonyms, dhari (prevents the body from decaying), jeevit (which keeps it alive), nityag (which keeps it all intact without discontinuation), and chetnanuvriti (continuous consciousness).
Further, the Samhita describes the theory of ‘common and difference’ on, the body, mind and soul vis-à-vis trisutra. Intake of substance with common features and characteristics lead to growth within the body and intake of substances with difference and specialties in characteristics lead to degeneration or depletion.
In the next article, we will introduce the readers to dravya (basic matter), guna (qualities), qualities of atma, karma and how it all lead to disease and introduction to dosha, medicines, substance and herbs – plant and animal source and types of physicians.
Author: Varsha Saxena
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