Baba Ramdev makes a public statement against allopathic drugs for Covid and the outraged Indian Medical Association slaps a legal notice on him. The governments and the public fall into a trap of an unnecessary debate between tradition versus modernity; obscurantism versus scientificity, and so on. Poet Alexander Pope says, ‘A little knowledge is a dangerous thing’ and this applies well to both sides. A little knowledge regarding the ‘other’ system generates ignorance and exposes stupidity in ample proportions.
Ayurveda, in its fundamental belief that nature is the cause and cure of diseases, bases itself on the Tridosha theory of human disease which postulates an imbalance of Vatta (air and space), Pitta (fire), and Kapha (water and gross matter) elements of the human body. Interventions of any kind seek to restore the balance. It understands the human body from a different domain level. The atomic theory and the germ theory of disease is the basis of modern medicine.
The paradigms of studying health and disease are different in Ayurveda and allopathic medicine but both have the interest of the human being at its core. Ayurveda, as a system of medicine, goes deep into physiology, anatomy, and observational studies of diseases, equally scientific and equally rational. Before the atomic theory of matter and the germ theory of diseases, dating just a couple of centuries, for thousands of years the Ayurvedic understanding of health and disease gave us many stupendous contributions in the preventive and therapeutic fields including plastic surgical techniques and vaccination against small-pox. It is a colonial mindset and a constantly west looking mind which would denigrate Ayurveda as a form of medicine. The reverse holds true too when there is a mindless criticism of the allopathic medicine.
The principles of Sattvic diet, Yoga, Pranayama, and meditation form a crucial component of preventive medicine in Ayurveda. Modern medicine looks at psycho-somatic problems increasingly seriously, but this mind-body connection deeply embeds into Ayurvedic framework. Meditation and deep breathing are vital in the mental and emotional well-being and solutions to many psycho-somatic illnesses. Dean Ornish (Reversal of Heart Disease) makes a compelling evidence-based argument for his program of integrating Indian Yogic exercises, breathing techniques, meditation, and diet to reverse heart disease. Most interventions-aspirin, medicines, stents, and surgery, at best halt the progression of disease, rarely do they reverse.
The either/ or approach is a modern scientific philosophy which either calls for either complete acceptance or a complete rejection. Extreme claims by Ayurvedic practitioners without careful studies unfortunately tend to make light of its achievements and strengths. There is no point in belittling Ayurveda in the lens of modern medicine or modern chemistry. One paradigm cannot be a yardstick to measure the other.
Baba Ramdev has successfully converted Ayurvedic techniques and products into a huge business proposition but he goes overboard in his criticism of modern medicine. Unfortunately, an equal imbalance and intolerance characterises the other party too. The criticisms arise from one’s own sense of power and poor understanding of the other side. In this clash, the powerful proponents end up making a show-piece of the worst of the other side. Harmony and integration have a quick death. In the bargain, there is only confusion and mayhem on the part of the ordinary people who only seek solutions to their health issues.
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