Illness results when the life force is obstructed or when the polar principles become imbalanced. Traditional Chinese Medical practitioners have gained considerable credibility in the West and are now commonly members of pain-treatment teams. Although Western scientists may have difficulty with the concept of chi traveling through invisible channels, there is a growing body of evidence supporting the role of TCM in the treatment of neuromuscular and arthritic pain, post-surgical pain, menstrual cramps, nausea from chemotherapy, and drug addiction.
Ayurveda, which means "science of life" in Sanskrit, may be as ancient as humankind. Although its precise origins have been lost in the mists of history, one thing can be said with certainty about this comprehensive, philosophical, eminently practical system of health science: Ayurveda is very old. The Rig Veda, a collection of more than one thousand poetic hymns that include many of the central concepts of Ayurveda, was composed between 1200 and 900 B.C. Thus, the Ayurvedic system was already centuries old during the time of Charaka, the most celebrated of the ancient physicians of India, who lived around 700 B.C.
In his book known as the Samhita, which is the principle source for our knowledge of his thinking, Charaka described a gathering of the most learned men of India who came together in the foothills of the Himalayas to discuss the problem of disease. They agreed that disease was spreading misery and death and was standing in the way of humanity's achieving spiritual enlightenment, the true purpose of existence. In the Charaka Samhita, the sages elected a delegate to call upon the celestial being known as Indra, who then revealed the science of life to the great sage, Bhardwaja. In this way the principles of Ayurveda are described as coming to mankind directly from the gods. From the very beginning Ayurveda was intended to serve spiritual as well as physical purposes.
For anyone reading the Samhita and other ancient Ayurvedic texts today, many of the books' ideas seem amazingly sophisticated and up-to-date. The Charaka Samhita, for example, includes a carefully formulated classification of diseases and their treatments, as well as sections on anatomy and embryology, nutrition, and herbology. In all, Ayurveda's understanding of human health is every bit as comprehensive as the healing systems of ancient Greece and China, though these have, until recently, received far more attention from Western historians.
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When India ganed independence from Britain in 1947, the way was opened for a revival of Ayurveda's long-suppressed tradition.
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The Vedic sages derived their insights into the nature of reality without benefit of sophisticated scientific instruments. They simply looked inside themselves, and discovered the secrets of the universe within their own physical beings and their consciousness. Their understanding of the world in terms of five great elements is at once simple and profound. Though this perspective is of ancient origin, the concepts are relevant to our current understanding of reality, and can even illuminate our understanding of Western scientific principles. We can, for example, describe chemical reactions as the application of the fire principle, or energy, to systems composed of the earth element, or atoms. This increases the movement principle (the air element) of the atoms, causing a reorganization of bonds (the water element), which results in a new substance.
Similarly, in nuclear reactions a powerful acceleration of the movement principle (the air element) within a system overcomes strong intranuclear bonding (the water element), liberating tremendous amounts of energy (fire) as subatomic particles are released from their bondage.
The theory of the five elements can be applied to human social systems as well. The fast-paced lives we live in the West, which are expressions of the air principle, are disruptive to the social cohesion (water) that bonds members of families, communities, or other organizations that are expressions of the earth principle. The absence of a unifying social fabric results in chaotic releases of emotional energy (fire) that are the bases of the unprecedented levels of violence in our society today.
By beginning to think of the world in terms of space, air, fire, water and earth, we can gain insight into how the field of pure unmanifest consciousness interacts with itself to create manifest reality. This process is nothing other than the miracle of creation.
Vedic science teaches that we create our own reality. Consciousness, the field of all possibilities, systematically consolidates itself into the material world. The same field of intelligence that structures the galaxies, planets, mountains, and atoms creates living beings. The same intelligence that organizes the solar system, the seasons, and even the migration of birds is the origin of the creative thoughts that arise in our minds. This understanding is eloquently expressed in a Vedic poem:
As is the individual, so is the universe.
As is the human body, so is the cosmic body.
As is the human mind, so is the cosmic mind.
As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm.
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SROTAS
Ayurveda understands the human body, and any other living organism, as fundamentally a network of channels through which biological intelligence flows. The srotas are an important Ayurvedic concept denoting channels of energy and information. When the channels are open and healthy, the life force is able to nourish the cells and tissues. But if the channels are blocked and the tissues are unable to receive nourishment, dystunction and disease are the result.
There are thirteen major srotas through which the primary biological processes express themselves. Three of these roughly correspond to the respiratory tract, the digestive tract, and the circulatory system, which are responsible for bringing various forms of nourishment into the physiology. There are also seven channels dedicated to transporting the "essences" of the tissues; that is, the full range of energy and information that must come together in order to create a particular tissue category. For example, a "muscle-forming channel" accomplishes the delivery of amino acids to form the primary muscle proteins, together with iron to supply the myoglobin, a complex protein that binds oxygen. Clearly, a tissue-carrying srota can be a very abstract and technical concept. Rather than thinking of these tissue channels as anatomic structures, it may be useful to conceive of them simply as the orderly flow of biological intelligence.
The three remaining srotas carry sweat, feces, and urine out of the body, and any blockage in these channels will of course result in serious illness. Women have two additional srota channels for transporting menstrual flow and breast milk.
On a purely physiological level, Western medicine recognizes that blocks in circulation lead to illness. Urologists spend a good part of their working day relieving obstructions in the urethras. An ear, nose and throat doctor understands the problems caused by swollen sinuses, which block the passages that drain mucus from the head and ears. Cardiologists are constantly seeking to identify and remove obstructions in the heart vessels. The expansion of this idea to include all conduits for energy and information throughout the mind and body is a relatively small leap.
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In considering these circulatory channels, the essential point is quite clear: Health requires the unobstructed flow of energy and intelligence. Any blockage of this flow results in disease.
The Six Stages of Disease
If a patient approaches a Western physician with a vague sense that something's wrong, the doctor may order blood tests, an EKG, or an X ray. All of these will probably be normal, and the patient will be told there's nothing wrong after all. But there is something wrong, of course, if the patient isn't feeling well.
Western medicine has difficulty addressing the initial stages of illness, before the appearance of manifest symptoms. In contrast, Ayurveda teaches that a disease is already in its later stages by the time it reveals itself at the level of the physical body. Illness first appears not as a sign or symptom, but as an awareness. Similarly, when disease begins to regress, the first changes occur in consciousness. The patient often knows he or she is getting better before the doctor can detect any changes in objective studies. When a patient with pneumococcal pneumonia receives antibiotics, he or she will improve days before there are any changes in the chest X ray, prompting the rule, "Treat the patient, not the X ray."
Ayurveda recognizes six stages of disease, each of which may continue for some time. The patient's intuitive awareness of each stage, however, always precedes any measurable or observable change. As you read through the descriptions below, notice how the first three stages of disease occur in the unmanifest field of the physiology, while only the final three stages occur at the material level.
- First Stage--accumulation. As a result of less-than-ideal choices, imbalance begins to accumulate somewhere in the body. The cause of the imbalance can be traced to some toxicity, which may be in the physical environment, in a food, or even in a relationship.
- Second Stage--aggravation. If the accumulation of toxicity progresses, the toxified dosha begins to distort normal functioning in a subtle manner.
- Third Stage--dissemination. At this stage, the imbalance is no longer contained. The patient experiences vague systematic symptoms, such as fatigue or generalized discomfort.
- Fourth Stage--localization. Eventually the toxic imbalance localizes in an area of the physiology where some weakness exists, perhaps due to an old trauma or some inherited tendency.
- Fifth Stage--manifestation. If the process is allowed to progress still further, an obvious dysfunction is revealed, perhaps as a flare-up of single joint arthritis, an episode of angina, or the early stages of an infection.
- Sixth Stage--disruption. Finally, if efforts to reverse the disease process are not instituted, the stage of disruption is reached, with the arrival of a full-blown illness.
How can we use this protrayal of the progression of illness to understand and treat disease? A young man raised on cheeseburgers and ice cream ignores the occasional indigestion and bloating that he feels after a big meal. According to Ayurveda, he is accumulating toxicity due to poor food choices, which will lead to aggravation--more cholesterol than he can fully metabolize or eliminate. Over the next ten years, he moves to the next step, the dissemination, as landmarked by an elevated serum cholesterol.
Years later, he progresses into the localization phase, in which cholesterol is gradually deposited into his coronary arteries. By his mid-fifties, he shows manifest evidence of illness when he complains to his doctor of occasional chest pains when he mows the lawn. If the process continues, he is suddenly struck with the crushing chest pain of a life-threatening heart attack.
No one would argue that the seeds of illness were planted years before the full-blown expression of the disease. Ayurveda's major focus is on identifying the origins of illness in the choices we make and taking steps to prevent the inevitable progression that leads to sickness and suffering.
Etiology of Diseases
At a deeper level we could ask the question, why do we choose behaviors that are not good for us? Why do we eat foods that may not be good for us, ingest substances that are potentially harmful, or partake in behaviors that are risky? In an earlier chapter, we mentioned the concept of pragyaparadh--the "mistake of the intellect," the mind's temptation to create divisions where none exist. According to Ayurveda, forgetting the unified essence of life is a fundamental error from which all human suffering derives. Conversely, reestablishing connection with wholeness results in the melting away of all disease. Object referral is the single phrase with which Ayurveda accounts for the onset of the disease process--and the cure for all illness is expressed sd self-referral. Object referral means that we seek fulfillment in things outside ourselves. Whether it is the promise of some intense sensory gratification, working late into the night to make more money, or using drugs to gain peer approval, the sacrifice of our self for our self-image is the seed of all suffering.
All Ayurvedic interventions are ultimately intended to transform object referral into self-referral, and to restore the memory of wholeness. We will always seek gratification in the world around us and we all deserve to have a good job, a safe home, and nourishing relationships. Ayurveda simply says that by themselves, our possessions and positions will not bring us true and lasting happiness. Therefore, for true health, we must seek to discover that aspect of ourselves that is universal. Then we remember that we are not physical beings having occasional spiritual experiences. Ultimately, we are spiritual beings having occasional physical experiences.
page99Healing Music
The healing power of music has been recognized for thousands of years in Ayurveda. The sanskrit word rasa, which is translated as "plasma" and "taste," also describes the moods that music can induce in us. Vedic musicians characterized the vibrational quality of times of the day and the seasons of the year and created musical pieces, or ragas, to reflect and harmonize with nature's cycles. A morning raga has an enlivening sound and rhythm while an evening raga may be settling and dreamlike. Modern musicians including Bruce and Brian BecVar have taken these ancient musical principles and applied them to contemporary melodies and instruments.
Music therepy is slowing gaining acceptance in modern health care. People with movement difficulties due to Parkinson's disease or stroke have shown improvement in their walking when taught to entrain with music that has a great beat. Music is used to facilitate the various stages of labor and delivery and can reduce the need for pain medication after surgical and dental procedures. Children with cancer who participate in music-therepy classes show improvement in immune function, and heart surgeons perform tasks with greater accuracy when they listen to music they enjoy. One of the most wonderful aspects of the human species is our ability to make and enjoy music. Vedic myths protray the universe as the dance of the gods. Our ability to resonate with nature's primordial sounds and rhythms is an innate gift that can provide us with joy and promote healing.
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May our sharing of healing information be useful and appropriate. And so it is. Amen. Awomen. Aho. Ashé!
Love and *LIGHT* *BEING*
, Teo 
