Ayurveda vs Modern Medicine: A Personal Experience

The following is the account of a dear friend of mine who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and lost many years trying to find a solution in the most advanced hospital systems around the world. Yet it was only Ayurveda and Yoga that finally solved the debilitating suffering once and for all.

Here is the letter:

Twenty years mother and father fed me (numerous times a day) every bite by ensuring it is safe, freshly cooked and healthy for me. Then a day came when the bird in me wanted to fly out of the family nest to explore the world. I travelled to southern hemisphere to northern hemisphere and almost completed worldwide tour. During this exploration, my stomach gave up and couldn’t accept fusion, funky, over processed, unhealthy, untimely meals. The result was stomach ulcer and IBS. Ulcer is a small sore on stomach lining but it tries its best to end your life. IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome – named so when medicines and doctors fail to diagnose the cause.

I couldn’t even eat a slice of an apple or an orange and dropped to smallest dress size. I suffered with it for seven long years. I tried every type of medicine available. I have been in and out of hospitals and learnt about all medicine types and at the end I felt I could do a doctor or a pharmacist job. Everyone thought my life is ending with no marriage, children or career for me and I will be bed ridden and give in to death. Then my uncle introduced me to Baba Ramdev and Yoga. I tested it as a last resort. Surprisingly it changed my life forever. Within days of taking ayurvedic medicines (very affordable, natural treatment with no side effects) and bringing minor life style changes(*see below), I started noticing the changes. No more waking up to burps, rushing to loo from dining table and actually could eat 1 roti a day. Over time I was back to normal life or should say even better life and started smiling at my life.

I took this opportunity to complete Yoga and Ayurveda course from Baba Ramdev himself. I went to his abode in Haridwar and felt I had the most peaceful, enjoyable days of my life. World exploration had no essence in front of this immense experience that I urge everyone to try. The environment was so pure with organic food and flowers everywhere, free treatments for poor and needy, could treat worst of the diseases such as cancer, young children reciting Sanskrit shloks and life lessons. The man himself earning in multimillions but lives in a small hut with no luxuries, eats 1 main meal only a day and does all his work by himself and doesn’t use others as his servants. He is a true epitome of giving to humanity. I owe my health and happiness to him forever. Most importantly his messages that originate from the Holy Scriptures show the best direction for life. I live a peaceful, happy life by following them. I don’t have to visit expensive hospitals and lose my sleep to pay those unnecessary bills. Rather I use my energy to spread the purity of heart I attained since I realized and accepted ayurvedic life and a yogic life.

*Life style changes

• First understood my prakruti (body constitution). This is impacted by parents’ body constitution and at their constitution at the time of conceiving. Mine is predominantly pitta. Pitta could also be noticed if a person has acne, ulcers, hair fall, hair greying, sweaty hands, anger, moody, aggressive, competitive, sun burns or rashes, etc.
• Then understood my current vikruti. This part of body constitution changes seasonally due to weather, food intake, stress, work pressure, work life balance, exercise, etc.
• Then changed my diet by eliminating pitta enhancing foods such as onions, garlic, pickles, chillies, spices, aerated drinks and eggs. Never ate meat or drank alcohol that also provokes pitta. And cooked fresh, cool nourishing foods such as lassi, yogurt rice, barley salads and drink, idli,  jowar roti, coconut water and drank lots of water for detoxification. In simple words, I went back to the diet taught by my mother and grandmother. In turn, I became a cook whose food is thoroughly enjoyed by family and guests.
• Very few herbs with no side effects such as avipattikar churna, moti pishti, chawanprash (this improved my immunity which was destroyed by allopathic medicine).
• 15 minutes yoga daily which I try to increase. But overall in a week I do achieve minimum 3 hours exercise.
• I started donating more (clothes, books, shoes) and making some poor children study. This gave me lot of peace in mind and heart and lot of sound sleep with sweet dreams.
• And learnt most important lesson of life:

Life doesn’t ask to make it complicated but to simplify it. We only need few basic items to live and will take nothing with us when we die. Hence no need to run around the world competing and suffering for nothing to keep at the end.

No facing death in the hands of doctors who are there to charge hefty bills and make life difficult for the dying person and the left behind people hating the person on death bed for having to pay bills.

I wish my end in the arms of nature as we come from there and end life there.

I simply wish a baby is taught these basics of life from childhood and every person follows the yogic way of life and make theirs and others life beautiful. Om!

It is time for us, the modern man, to go back to basics, as taught by our ancient Rishi's, that have helped keep us healthy for millenia in the most natural ways possible without having to spend billions of dollars on health care, all the while causing destruction of the planet!

Don't you think? Think!