जीवन विद्या एक परिचय

Question: There are thousands of medical practices on Earth, and a lot of human effort and money have gone into these. In spite of this, the health of the human race is still poor. Despite massive investments and the development of advanced instruments, the number of diseases is only increasing. New diseases are emerging constantly. The old techniques do not achieve the results they claim, and modern techniques also do not deliver on their promises. In light of this, how do you recognise health and restraint according to Jeevan Vidya?

Answer: - What you have described is a concern for almost everyone. All these efforts are aimed at specialisation. However, specialisation is like a monster, it can be as destructive as a demon. The belief that "we are specialists, therefore whatever we say is right" has resulted in numerous offences, especially against those who are ill. When patients try to explain their ailments, doctors often prefer to rely on machines rather than listen to them. Machines cannot understand human suffering. Only a human can truly listen to and comprehend another human’s pain. Therefore, accurate diagnosis cannot be achieved solely through the use of instruments.

In the past, the attempts by some people to diagnose ailments through Ayurveda, Unani, and other methods based on the knowledge of the nāḍī were commendable. They tried to identify illnesses by observing the rate, pressure, flow, strain, and tension of the nāḍī, which was praiseworthy. However, over time, doctors found nāḍī based diagnosis challenging and shifted towards the ease of instrumental diagnosis.

Now, everyone wants to use instruments to diagnose and understand disease. Decisions based on instruments fail to satisfy the patient, and the doctor remains distant from recognising the root cause of the disease. When it comes to drug discovery, research, and advancements in medical science, it often misses the point. What needs to be observed is the holistic suitability or adversity of these treatments for patients, but this is not always the case. All specialists have become stuck in the pursuit of comfort and accumulation. A specialist in a big city prescribes the same medicine and treatment as a small-town doctor but charges a hundred times as much. Patients, too, think that a doctor who charges more is better! Do you see this madness? Thirdly, they have never tried to think holistically in medical science, meaning they’ve never thought of being true doctors, they have never even tried.

Holistic medical science means to first recognise the state of good health. Thereafter we assess the state of ailment, which is done by reading the nāḍī of the patient, then upon matching it with the patient’s symptoms – the disease is diagnosed, and a treatment is given.