VILLAGE INDIA AND HEALTH SERVICES
Item
- Title
- VILLAGE INDIA AND HEALTH SERVICES
- extracted text
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RF_COM_H_11_SUDHA_PART _3
CPHE
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A Choice
before
Medical Students
Sponsored by
The Ecumenical Christian Centre
Whitefield, Bangalore, India
THE ECUMENICAL CHRISTIAN CENTRE,
WHITEFIELD,
BANGALORE,
CONFERENCE
ON
HEALTH SERVICES ’,
1977,
ATTENDED
ORGANISED
‘ VILLAGE
INDIA
FROM 8 TO 11 MARCH
BY 94 STUDENTS FROM 9
MEDICAL COLLEGES IN SOUTH INDIA.
WAS AN
OF RURAL
A
AND
THIS
EXPOSURE TO THE CHALLENGES
INDIA.
DOCTORS FROM RURAL
AREAS SH4RED THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH
THE
STUDENTS.
THEY
DISCUSSED,
THEY
VISITED RURAL PROJECTS.
THE VILLAGERS
AND
HAVE
THEIR
PROBLEMS
INDELIBLE IMPRESSION ON
MINDS.
LEFT AN
THOSE
YOUNG
VILLAGE INDIA AND HEALTH
SERVICES
For many of them it was the first realisation
of the hardships of people who live and of
doctors who work in rural India. As someone
put it “Yes, in that a lot of us people had
our eyes opened only now—how disillusioning
our studies have been!”
There were 94 of them—young and enthusiastic
medical students officially sponsored by 9 medical
colleges in South India. They spent 4 days at the
Ecumenical Christian Centre attending the Conference
on Village India and Health Services, 8-11 March 1977.
They discussed, fought and definitely thought a
lot. They were exposed to the realities of rural India
and health services needed by people in rural settings.
They talked and discussed with people like Dr. A. K.
Tharien of Oddanchatram, Dr. S. A. Jeyaram of
Gandhigram, Dr. Sophy George of Hoskote Mission,
Dr. Daleep Mukarji of Rural Unit for Health and
Social Affairs, Christian Medical College and Dr.
Sara Jacob of Christian Medical College who are all
in their own way involved in rural and community
health services. They also had field trips to the
remote villages of Sivvannapura and Oblahalli.
Broken words
sentences
articulated during
discussions and visits to villages are reproduced in this
booklet. These expressions are evidence of their
flat frustrations and distant hopes.
4
TO THE VILLAGES
Remarks and comments heard during the visit
to the village.
— Walking in silence was an experience to me.
— I cannot stick to this place for more than
a day.
— It is impossible for a doctor to attend on
one patient and keep quiet during the rest
of the day.
— Without proper transportation a doctor in
these villages will have to spend most of his
time in running from one place to another.
— If I live in this village I will begin to look
like them in some years.
— First time I am visiting a village and it has
no toilets and no running water facilities.
— Men can manage but women doctors cannot
manage to live in such joints; especially
the village elders will not accept a young
lady doctor.
— There does not seem to be water anywhere.
— “I wonder how they manage to drink this
junk? Why cannot they boil it?” “What will
they boil it with?” “ Well I guess with
firewood”. “They don’t even have enough
wood to cook their food.”
“ Well I guess they better use a kerosene
stove ”, “ I see”.
— You know what is fascinating about this
place, it is not the romance of country side
but the challenges it poses.
— Don’t think these village children are drawn
to you because you are doctors. They have
5
come to see your colourful Bruce Lee tee
shirts, your flare ups and the works of it.
You mean to say this is not a poor village?
And they say it is developed too!
SlVVANNAPURA
Here is Dr. Sophy George’s small house in this
little village of Sivvannapura.
— Groovy joint man! (referring to the small
village house).
— “Where do you think the kitchen is?”
“ Look for where the fridge is”. (Believe it
or not some did search for the fridge in
the kitchen).
That day ended with the students walking five
miles back to the bus wondering:
— Why cannot the villagers or the government
build better roads so that we could avoid
this tedious walking?
— Why the villagers cannot improve their lot?
— Why life seems so dull in these places?
— Why are they so filthy?
— Why don’t they deepen their well?
— What motivates some doctors to go to these
places and work with these poor people?
— What kind of social philosophy should one
evolve for the overall upliftment of these
people?
— How do you improve their social and health
conditions?
— How do you help them plan their families?
It certainly was a tiring day.
6
STRUCTURES ?
Now they are back at the Centre, they started
talking about their curriculum.
— Expose us to the realities of rural India.
— We need some more satellite centres and
peripheral hospitals.
— Our education is too much disease oriented.
— Do something. I mean do SOMETHING.
I mean
bust the jokers.
f
— The 5% jokers must be busted. Those are
the guys who determine the curriculum we
have to study.
— They want specialists so they train us to be
specialists.
— Well, you don’t teach somebody swimming
by drawing a diagram on the black board.
You straight away dump him into water and
there he learns it. So dump the medical
education right into the rural set up.
— Our training is irrelevant to the realities of
this country.
— There is too much imbalance between quan
tity and quality of care.
— Facilities in the village should determine the
training and not the other way round.
— Listen and learn from today so that we
can prepare for tomorrow.
— Until and unless there is social & economic
up-iiftment, medical care alone will not help.
— Raise their standard of living and they will
reduce the number of children.
— Change in curriculum does not change society
but change in social order brings about cur
riculum changes.
Do not look for romanticism in the rural set
up. Search for challenges.
7
They went on discussing their curriculum idealis
tically believing that they will be able to influence the
5 % who would eventually change the curriculum to
suit the health service needs of rural India.
BETWEEN THE TWO WORLDS
They shared their hopes and fears too.
— Why not our friend from Mysore join
politics?
— I wish somebody will motivate our teachers.
We very often tend to follow their pattern of
lethargy and comfort.
— I want to settle in life peacefully after studies.
— But will I be peaceful and successful in a
village, if I were to venture into one?
— Charity begins at home, so I guess I should
pay my parents the amount spent on me and
earn money for my family. It is true the
community has spent Rs. 65,000/- on my
education but that is nothing compared to
the sacrifice that my family made to educate
me.
— In spite of the 4-J- inch foam mattress I could
not sleep peacefully after Dr. Tharien’s talk.
— What motivates people like Dr. Tharien and
the Aroles to do the type of job they are
doing?
Where did they find the initial money to start
the project ?
— So Dr. Tharien got only Rs. 5/- as pocket
money to start with!
— What the hell will I know immediately after
graduation without any experience?
8
— Must I go ? What about the other ideas
I had?
— I found my conscience pricking at the end
of it all. I want to change. I am patriotic.
Yet I do not want to be the one to make
the sacrifice. Probably with some more
motivation I may change.
— But today I am not sure what I am going
to do.
Statistics is not the best thing to quote to
evaluate the outcome of a Conference of this nature.
Still it was encouraging to note that 83% of the
participants agreed that doctors should be agents of
social change. 90% felt that they would like to
spend two years in a rural area soon after gradua
tion. When asked what they prefer to do with their
lives, 27% felt they would like to work in a rural
area atleast for a short period. 18% would like to
join a big teaching hospital and 17% would like to
work in a Public Health Centre. 8.5% would pre
fer private practice in a rural area with a population
smaller than 15,000. 4% would like private practice
in cities and 5.7% would like to settle abroad.
But it is clear that atleast a few students were
motivated to re-think as to whom they should serve and
where they should work. They certainly were made to
realise that medical education and practice should not
be looked at in isolation irom the socio-political and
economic realities of India.
It certainly was a rewarding experience for the
staff of the Centre to have the fellowship of these
young and idealistic people who are hoping to take up
responsible posts in the service of the nation.
Colleges Represented
Goa Medical College
Gulbarga Medical College
Bellary Medical College
Mysore Medical College
Bangalore Medical College
St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore
Medical College, Pondicherry
Madras Medical College
Christian Medical College, Vellore
Printers
India, Bangalore - 560 042-- 1 46/77
STATEMENT ON THE HEALTH
OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE
Report on the
Joint Panel
of
The Indian Council of Social Science Research
The Indian Council of Medical Research
JUNE 2001
STATEMENT ON THE HEALTH
OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE
Report of the
Joint Panel
of
The Indian Council of Social Science Research
The Indian Council of Medical Research
JUNE 2001
India achieved independence in 1947 after over two
centuries of foreign rule The then appalling state of people's
health was reflected in the life span of 27 years. A quarter
of those born died within the first year of life and another half
before reaching the age of 10 years About two lakh women
died annually from causes associated with childbirth and, 100
million suffered from malaria, two million of which died of the
disease each year. The medical service based on the Western
model was equally appalling. This was stated by the Bhore
Committee in their report, ‘Health Survey of 1946'. Following
this detailed study, they recommended a plan for improving
health and medical care based on a decentralised but integrated
Primary Health Care concept based within the local community
and involving the people. Although based on the Western
concept of health, it was the first, 'Health for AH', document
aimed at providing basic preventive, supportive and curative
services to the ‘tillers of the soil' who then comprised 92 per
cent of the population. This plan was adopted by the
Government as the blueprint for the health of independent India.
A major shortcoming of this report was that it was based on
the assumption that the leadership of the key unit, the Primary
Health Centre, would be provided by the doctor trained for
five years in Western style medical colleges of our country.
It also failed to appreciate the age-old health culture and health
practices of our people as also the well-established indigenous
systems with their emphasis on physical and mental health
rather than mere medical care. A dissenting note by two Indian
members of the Committee stated, "No doctor trained for five
years in an urban medical college would live and serve in
a village PHC except under conditions of duress". They
recommended continuation of the three-year Licentiate Medical
Practitioners course that was, unfortunately, disbanded. Ignoring
2
this, in what was otherwise a useful plan, has been a major
factor for the failure of our existing health system.
There has been substantial improvement in the health
and quality of life of our people since independence, even though
the total population has more than trebled in the last 50 years.
The literacy rate has increased from 18 to 62 per cent, the
birth rate has decreased from 40 to 25 and the death rate
from 27 to 9 for every 1,000 population. The infant mortality
.rate, a good indicator of the overall health status, has shown
'remarkable improvement from 134 to 72, while the life
expectancy has increased from 32 to 63 years.
Nevertheless, these figures should be compared not only
with the low base line but also with the achievements of countries
like China, Sri Lanka and our own state of Kerala during the
same period, as they also started from a similar base line.
China that spends only 3.5 per cent of its GDP on health,
as against 5 per cent spent by India, has an overall health
status which is superior to ours with an Infant Mortality Rate
of 48 as compared to 72 of India and a life expectancy of
72 years, while it is 63 in India
Kerala with a per capita expenditure of less than US$25
on health has an infant mortality rate of 16 as compared to
b of the USA expending over $5,000 per capita, demonstrating
that the cost of health cares has little relation to its effectiveness
and, that good health care is remarkably cheap. Like Germany,
Kerala has a population growth that is below the replacement level.
Despite a fourfold increase in the production of food grains
since Independence and having 40 million tons of excess stored
3
in Government godowns, half of our children continue to suffer from
malnutrition. About 36 per cent of our population continue to remain
below the poverty line even 53 years after gaining independence.
The dramatic improvement in health following
independence must be seen not only in the context of techno-
managerial medical achievements, but even more so, in the
context of the overall social, cultural and economic
improvements, however limited, as in education and nutrition.
Underlying this was a strong political, professional ami
bureaucratic will to reach the benefits of Independence to ail
those who had participated in the independence struggle and
not merely to the elite. Small pox was eradicated, malaria
reduced from 100 million to less than 1,00,000 cases with no
deaths, and endemic cholera and plague brought under control.
This was achieved on a countrywide scale within a decade
and a half, despite limited financial and medical resources using
the same knowledge and technology previously restricted to
the cantonments of the British rulers. Unfortunately, this has
not received its due recognition, not only internationally but
even in our own country.
And yet, by the 70s, the rate of progress of these early
achievements had slowed down despite considerable increase
in financial resources as well as medical knowledge and.
technology. India became a signatory to the WHO Alma Ata'
declaration of ’Health for AH' in 1978. This was due to the
erosion of political and professional will which was reflected
in the entire mode of development of our nation guided by
a new elite that had gained control of the centralised levers
of power and, looked to the West as their role model. As a
consequence, the emphasis gradually shifted from Health,
4
Education and Welfare for All to the urban industrial form of
economic development to suit the requirements of select few.
As a result of the inability of the medical profession to
provide the necessary leadership, public health services were
taken over by the bureaucracy at the Centre and state levels.
Even through health was a state subject, the direction and
control became over-centralised in the Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare in Delhi which looked up to international experts
j'or advice and guidance rather than to our own, such experts
were unable to appreciate the entirely different social, cultural
and economic conditions in which the health system had to
operate This also disrupted the integrated PHC concept of
the Bhore Committee that was replaced by a variety of vertical
’specific' Primary Health Care Programmes to be achieved as
'targets' set by a hierarchical bureaucracy The major thrust
was on the control of the population under the title of Family
Planning, later to be euphemistically termed as Family Welfare
supported by supplementary vertical programmes like Child
Survival, an expanded programme of Immunization, Maternal
and Child Health and Reproductive and Child Health The target
pressures of these and other National Disease Control
programmes together with constant 'transfer' of staff has
alienated the PHC and its staff from the people without attending
|p their immediate curative felt needs.
The major health and medical resources have been
increasingly concentrated in both quantity, and even more so
in quality, in the more affluent urban areas. The over-production
of doctors in 106 Government medical colleges and their
specialist hospitals at public expense has failed to provide the
necessary services or leadership to the rural PHCs. They now
5
serve in the rapidly expanding profit-oriented curative private
sector or emigrate to greener pastures abroad The lucrative
nature of private medical practice has been revealed by the
establishment of a large number of private medical colleges
charging capitation fees
It was at this juncture that a joint panel of the Indian
Councils of Social Science and Medical Science Research
(ICSSR/ICMR) was appointed in 1978 to study the then prevailing
problems of health and medical care of our country Its landmark^
report, 'Health for All. An Alternative Strategy', of 1981, was
discussed by a Parliamentary Consultative Committee. This
report differed from all previous reports by visualising both
physical as well as mental health in a far wider perspective,
resulting from an interplay of social, cultural and economic factors
such as nutrition, education, female status, water, sanitation
and environment, with medical care as a supportive service,
not in the reverse. Also, that this in turn would depend on
the political will of a democratically elected government This
political will needs to ensure that the basic needs of the vast
majority who live in the six lakh villages and urban slums must
receive priority over the more exotic needs of an affluent urban
minority.
This report expressed its deep concern about the change^
of the mode of development of the country from a predominantly
village based agro-industrial labour intensive country with limited
financial resource, to an urban capital intensive form of
development mass producing consumer goods for export and
for the local elite. This Westernised mode of development
implemented ad hoc was entirely different from the basic, social,
cultural and economic requirements of the vast majority of our
6
people as was recommended by Gandhiji.
The rapid economic development of all socialist countries
like the USSR and China was preceded by social development
of all its citizens rather than waiting for the hypothetical 'trickle
down' effect of economic development which in a non-egalitarian
society is invariably a 'trickle-up' phenomenon with increased
polarisation of society This report, hence, emphasized the role
of primary education especially of women and children,
employment for all at adequate wages, improvement in the
status of women as also of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled
Tribes. Improvement in nutrition was to be ensured by increasing
the purchasing capacity as well as through better housing and
environment in both the rural and urban situation
In the field of medical care, it demanded a radical change
in medical education in keeping with the prevailing pattern of
communicable diseases and a balance of health manpower
in favour of paramedics and village health workers rather than
the existing inverted ratio of doctors and nurses. All these should
be provided a wider education in the epidemiological, socio
economic, cultural and political aspects of health rather than
mere medical technology Even the orientation of the Preventive
and Social Medicine Department has been essentially of a
Western technological nature ignoring all other systems of health
and medical care that are a part of our indigenous health culture
and practices. A major recommendation was for radical
decentralisation of health and medical care to the great extent
that it is feasible. Based on the barefoot doctor experience
of China and several experiences in our own country, the report
stated that about 80 per cent of all basic health and medical
care can be best undertaken at the village level with locally
7
trained health functionaries, and that about 95 per cent of all
health and medical care can be undertaken within the 1,00,000
population (Taluka/Block) level with the support of a Community
Health Complex including a Hospital with broad based specialist
services, under the financial and administrative control of the
local community at each level.
These distortions of the health and medical scene were
reiterated in the preamble to the National Health Policy of 1983
as follows: "The demographic and health picture of the country
still constitutes a cause for serious and urgent concern The
high rate of population growth continues to have an adverse
effect on the health of our people and the quality of their
lives. The mortality rates for women and children are still
distressingly high; almost one third of the total deaths occur
among children below the age of 5 years; infant mortality is
around 129 per thousand live births. Efforts for raising the
nutritional levels of our people have still to bear fruit and the
extent and severity of malnutrition continues to be exceptionally
high. Communicable and non-communicable diseases have
still to be brought under effective control and eradicated.
Blindness, leprosy and TB continue to have a high incidence.
Only 31 per cent of the rural population has access to potable
water supply and 0.5 per cent enjoys basic sanitation. High
incidence of diarrhoeal diseases and other preventive and
infectious diseases, especially amongst infants and children,
lack of safe drinking water and poor environmental sanitation,
poverty and ignorance are among the major contributory causes
of the high incidence of disease and mortality. The existing
situation has been largely engendered by the almost wholesale
adoption of health manpower development policies and the
establishment of curative centers based on the Western models,
8
which are inappropriate and irrelevant to the real needs of our
people and the socio-economic conditions obtaining in the
country. The hospital-based disease, and cure-oriented approach
towards the establishment of medical services has provided
benefits to the upper crusts of society, specially those residing
in the urban areas. The proliferation of this approach has been
at the cost of providing comprehensive primary health care
services to the entire population, whether residing in the urban
or the rural areas. Furthermore, the continued high emphasis
»n the curative approach has led to the neglect of the preventive,
promotive public health and rehabilitative aspects of health care
The existing approach, instead of improving awareness and
building up self-reliance, has lent to enhance dependency and
weaken the community's capacity to cope with its problems.
The prevailing policies in regard to the education and training
of medical and health personnel, at various levels, has resulted
in the development of a cultural gap between the people and
the personnel providing care. The various health programmes
have, by and large, failed to involve individuals and families
in establishing a self-reliant community. Also, over the years,
the planning process has become largely oblivious of the fact
that the ultimate goal of achieving a satisfactory health status
for all our people cannot be secured without involving the
community in the identification of their health needs and priorities
es well as in the implementation and management of the various
nealth and related programmes."
That 36 per cent of the population still continues to live
below the poverty line, 70 per cent of women in the child bearing
age suffer from anaemia, and 85 per cent of our population
continue to live in six and a half lakh villages and burgeoning
urban slums under conditions of poverty and ill-health 50 years
9
after independence is a severe indictment of those who have
controlled the reins of power and authority during this period.
The recommendations of the ICSSR/ICMR report and of the
Government’s own National Health Policy have been ignored.
It is not surprising that under the circumstances there is now
a re-emergence and resurgence of diseases of poverty such
as tuberculosis, malaria, water-borne diseases, acute respiratory
infection of children, filariasis, dengue. Kala azar, encephalitis
and sexually transmitted diseases. The underlying cause of
all these lies in the increased polarisation of our society and^
resultant increase in poverty despite a vast increase in overall
wealth A major cause of this lies in the Structural Adjustment
Policy imposed by the IMF in the 90s as a result of extensive
international borrowing from the World Bank during the 80s
for a form of development that has excluded 85 per cent of
our population from its benefits To blame this on population
increase is unjustifiable in view of the experience of our own
state of Kerala.
Structural Adjustment Policy has also enforced a 20 per
cent reduction in the Government budget for health including
water and sanitation which has further marginalised the poor
and perpetuated the diseases of poverty. The answer to this
does not lie in vaccines and further vertical programmes for
individual diseases, but in a policy that does not accentuate
but reduces poverty. Experience even in the West shows that
most of these diseases disappeared with minor egalitarian type
of socio-economic improvement associated with widespread
basic education. Unfortunately, we are now offered large ’safety
net' loans by the same World Bank for those who have been
thrown by them off the cliff. This can only perpetuate the vicious
cycle of poverty and its diseases. Loans for facetious
10
programmes like DOTS for tuberculosis, impregnated bed nets
for control of malaria and for population control and its adjuvant
programmes under the guise of Family Welfare Much of the
extensive loans for improving Primary Health Care have been
utilised for buildings and equipment but not for improving the
service component of the PHCs as almost 80 per cent of
recurring PHC expenditure is on salaries. This can only help
perpetuate the vicious cycle of indebtedness by seeking further
loans and consequently increasing conditionalities imposed by
the IMF.
Another major cause of deterioration of the health of
our people is the encouragement and support provided to the
purely curative and profit-oriented private health sector by the
Government at the cost of public health services which have
to provide preventive and supportive care to the entire population
and also basic curative services to the poor who cannot afford
the private sector except under duress. The exploitative nature
of the private sector is demonstrated by the fact that the rich
are dangerously over-investigated and over-medicated in fivestar hospitals, the middle class pauperised in imitating the rich,
and over 20 per cent of the meagre household expenditure
of the poorest is being diverted from food to doctors and drugs
chiefly of the wrong variety. Privatisation of public health
services and the demand for health insurance by the World
Bank and IMF can only further compound the problem and
deny even the few modest services that exist for the poor.
The production of 60,000 drugs and formulations, while WHO
estimates that about 350 can serve all medical requirements,
denotes the extent of the nexus between the medical profession,
the private sector and the burgeoning health industry which
is permitted by a democratically elected government even when
11
over 36 per cent of the population still lives below the poverty
line. About 70 per cent of women in the child bearing period
continue to suffer from severe anaemia, 100 million children
do not attend school, 19 per cent of the population is without
access to safe drinking water, 71 per cent without sanitation and
malnutrition is on the increase due to removal of food subsidies.
The silver lining lies in the enactment of the 73rd and
74th Amendments for decentralised governance as a result of
an increasingly awakened public provided with universal adult
franchise by the founder father of the nation at Independence
who probably anticipated this scenario
In the field of health, the ICSSR/ICMR report provides
the basic strategy for implementation of a people-based and
people-operated system Panchayat and Nagar Palika systems
The intervening years have also provided us more information
of the technical and financial feasibility as well as the ability
of the people to operate such a decentralised socially and
culturally acceptable bottom-up approach to health It is evident
that the non-medical component of health like nutrition,
education, water, sanitation and environment are primarily within
the realm of the people's own efforts, both directly and through
their political system. What is increasingly evident is that the
preventive, supportive and even curative aspects of medical
care lend themselves admirably to such a decentralised village
and Taluka/Block based service operated by locally trained
female health functionaries with the aid of a graded supportive
paramedical and professional structure.
Specialist, doctors,
nurses and health professional are now readily available for
such People's Hospital and Health Center at the Taluka/Block
township though not at the village Public Health Centre. The
12
latter can be replaced by a large number of specifically trained
local village based paramedical female functionaries supported
by a well-integrated Community Health Care system. The ICSSR/
1CMR report has stated that this would enable almost 95 per
cent of all health and medical problems to be adequately
undertaken in a humane, readily accessible, culturally and
socially acceptable and highly cost-effective manner. This would
leave only a relatively small load for super-specialised hospital
care at the district and city level.
Such an effective system for 1,00,000 population would
cost about Rs.200 per capita per annum at 1989-90 This can
be readily met by a combination of reallocation of the skewed
urban-rural allocation of the present public system together with
charges levied from patients which presently amounts to over
Rs 400 per capita per annum. This would also reduce the
excessive expenditure borne by people on private medical care
due to better and more effective services provided by the
people's own sector a lower cost. Unlike the Public Sector all
staff in the PEOPLES SECTOR would be recruited and paid
by the Panchayats at each level, and hence, function under
their administrative and financial control. This would ensure
accountability to the local people rather than to a distant
bureaucracy at much lower cost. This would also prevent the
poor from expending almost 20 per cent of their meagre
household expenditure on medical care which is only next to
dowry as the cause for rural indebtedness. Health is one of
the 29 subjects that are directly under the purview of the
Panchayats. It is estimated that appropriate health and medical
care can be made available to all citizens of this country at
almost half the present cost of Rs. 80,000 crore per year
which is equivalent, to 5 per cent of the GDP.
13
This will also help to re-establish the age-old doctor-patient
relationship while simultaneously providing useful employment
to millions of women within their own village at the local level
of remuneration This would also enhance their social status
in their community and society
This will also ensure effective control on the production
in number, type and training of professionals for serving the
requirements of the People's Sector which would be far larger
than the combined Public or Private Sectors. This will also
control the production of drugs and other medical requirements
in conformity with the people's actual requirements. It would
also regulate the size, quality and pricing of the private sector
which no legislative or penal action can hope to achieve. With
the enactment of the 73rd and 74th Amendments, Panchayati
Raj now provides the opportunity to implement the health and
medical care envisaged in the ICSSR/ICMR report of 1981
in both rural and urban areas. It would also prove to be the
most effective means for population control in a more
personalised and humane manner.
The time is opportune for the implementation of our own
ICSSR-ICMR report to achieve Health for All our citizens and
correct the distortions defined in the National Health Policy in 1983.
The transition to the PEOPLES SECTOR as the major
sector in health, will no doubt be opposed by those who have
a vested interest in maintaining the status quo in this field.
Unfortunately, the very inefficiency and excesses of these sectors
leave no alternative. The joint panel of the ICSSR/ICMR can
play a useful role in this process as follows:
14
1.
Examine the effect of the Structural Adjustment Policy
on the large underprivileged sections of our society,
especially women, children and Scheduled Castes and
Tribes.
2.
The crucial outlays on health, water, sanitation and
nutrition for the poor
3.
Regular assessment of priorities based on epidemiological
considerations.
4.
Study the development of people's organisations at the
village, block and district levels and their impact on health
5
Study the social, cultural, cost and effectiveness of the
People's Sector and its interaction with the existing health
and medical structures during the interim phase of change
6.
Establish four or five model research institutions for
studying, overseeing and supporting this People's Sector
during this period of one or two decades.
7.
Provide relevant information to the people and their
organisations for participation in this process of change.
8
)
The people should be encouraged to develop their own
methods of self-reliance in keeping with their own
requirements to the extent possible such as self-help
health co-operatives.
We conclude by stating that the decentralised Community
Health Care system as described by the ICSSR/ICMR in its
1981 report offers a simple yet humane and cost-effective means
15
for rectifying many of the problems of the existing Health Care
System. It can ensure greater accountability in the Public Sector
and better ethics in the Private one. It can help to correct
the distortion in the production of professional and
paraprofessional personnel in both quantity and quality in keeping
with the actual health and medical needs of the country. Also,
the quantity, quality in the production, distribution and use of
drugs and other medical instruments and supplies in keeping
with actual needs. All this without resorting to punitive and/
or legal measures which have generally failed
This would also provide a highly cost-effective means
for control of escalating costs in a marketised commodity, in
a field where consumer resistance is at its lowest, it would
ensure a better balance between the non-medical as also the
medical supportive, preventive and curative aspects of health
This can be achieved only by creating mass awareness
among the people at large and demonstrating the effectiveness
of this model. This would be a part of the overall decentralisation
process under the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments.
□□
16
Co n-i H
DECCAN
SUNDAY HERALD
II APRIL 9, 1995
HERALD
mdhsd bag
HEN the gliricidia tree
flowers it stands out
clearly from a distance —
long, thin upward-stretching
branches covered with blossoms
all the through. From a distance
the flowers look off-white with a
pinkish tinge and, considering
everything, the tree looks quite
beautiful; a worthy component of
the Garden City.
I speak in this unenthusiastic
manner because, the gliricidia has
not been a great favourite. My as
sociation with gliricidia began in
Bombay where the flowers had a
grey and haggard look. If ever a
flower could be called grey, I used
to think, it was the gliricidia. As I
saw it, it had two virtues. Its
leaves composted very quickly —
so that if you dug a pit under it
and allowed the leaves to fall in,
you got fine quick compost. In fact
the tree is known as the manure
tree — or "gobas gira” in Banga
lore. The second virtue was that
it produced thin but useful stakes,
and just pushing one into the
earth would produce a new tree.
After seeing the Bangalore
version of the tree, my attitude
W
Bangalore’s btashimg blossoms
towards it softened. In Bangalore
that grey look becomes a fresh and
pretty blush; in short, the magic
air of Bangalore turned a grey
flower into a pretty one.
Outdoing the gliricidia, at the
moment, are the tabubeia
argentias, with their dense com
pact yellow heads. These tabubeias
contribute little to the compost
heap, neither do they give us
useful sticks; but everything is for
given because, for a couple of
weeks they become unbelievably
gorgeous and this exempts them
from being useful. Actually I have
just learnt that there are in fact
two different species of these
tabubeias which look so similar
that only a botanist can tell them
apart. I got this piece of informa
tion from Mr. T.P. Issar’s recent
book Blossoms of Bangalore. To
add to our confusion, I suspect
that this tabubeia is called Tecoma
ungulata by some people. But
the pinky mauve blossoms of
jacarandas and the tabubeia
roseas. Unlike the preceding
Laeeq Futehally
yellow ones, these trees are tall
and dignified and they ahve pres
ence, so that they do not have to
what’s in a name, as long as you
depend on their flowers in order
The
magic
air
know what you're talking about?
to draw our admiration. Again,
the layman has a right to be con
of Bangalore
The
two
indistinguishable
fused about these pink tabubeias.
tabubeias (or tecomas) are not the
gives
There seem to be three distinct
only yellow flowers out at this
kinds which we lump together as
time. The much inferior species
a fresh glow
rosea. There is the one with large
Dalichondron is also showing
wads of shocking pink; there is the
to the grey
some yellow flowers in a timid
mauve-pink, less shocking one;
half-hearted way; my own impres
gliricidia flowers
and there is a third which pro
sion was that this tree flowered in
duces plenty of leaf and only pale
the monsoon, but on referring to
my new bible (i.e. Mr. Issar’s book) roads of Bangalore are still show single flowers. The one with dark
I find that they do also flower, off ing many spathodia flowers on pink bunches is called tabubeia
and on, whenever they feel like it. those tall, dark and handsome avellanedar, and the pale one is t.
I suppose the Bangalore seasons trees. The large orange flowers leucoxylon.
are so unclear, they run into each look like a stylised Rajasthani
The pink cassias, too, are separ
other, that we cannot blame the painting — the canopy dotted with ated into three kinds. Cassia
trees for becoming confused.
bright single flowers.
grandes is the one with flowers all
Our real season of the big guns along the branches; c. renigera is
Apart from the gliricidia and
the tabubeia Argentina lining the begins with the bluey-mauve and the one where the flowers grow in
bunches; while the third, which
has darker and smaller flowers, is
c. nodosa.
are concerned, it remains the
gulmohar, and there is no mistak
ing it.
Compared to the pink cassias
After all this, it is relief to get
to the gulmohar, of which there is and tabubeias, the yellow cassias
only one kind with only one name. are easy to recognise. The cassia
Although that is not true either. fistula or Indian laburnum is
After years of calling this tree unmistakable, the yellow flowers
delonix regia, we found it being hang down, hiding the trunk of a
called poinciana regia by the new small, leafless tree. The cassia
books. It is also called Flamboyant siamea and the c. spectabilis are
by people with West Indian con similar, but the latter is so much
nections; but as far as you and I better-looking, with its upward
CRYSTAL VIEW
Tiny
ADDII QTB 1 E
pointing spikes that there is no ex
cuse for mistaking it for its in
ferior relation. This inferior rela
tion, though, has one great virtue.
It will grow anywhere and any
how. There are many growing on
some of the Bombay pavements;
and the story goes that stakes of
the siamea were put in to support
other saplings planted by the Cor
poration. While the original sap
lings died, the stakes flourished,
and became the City’s roadside
trees.
you will receive tomorrow. Your well-earned holdiay
is a time for reflection upon what you might do to
ensure a more profitable future for you and your
loved ones. Be extra nice to older people. Important
dates: 10,12,15.
LIBRA
SUNDAY HERALD
>
APRIL9'19951 Quacks in
the doc
Quacks in the doc
Another complainant, Manju
Santolia, was admitted to a
Bombay hospital in March 1984.
She had discontinued
the
treatment following attacks of
convulsion. She later went into a
coma and died. Another charge
against the institute was that of
“false representation”.
fT^HE Concise Oxford Diction-
An advertisement in a June 1984
periodical quoted a Dr N.P.
Mathur on the effectiveness of the
slimming programme. But the ad
did not mention that Dr Mathur
was a regular employee of Sheri
Louise. Sounds familiar?
Body Wrap (which had 100
branches in the country) too had
the inevitable encounter with the
MRTPC which restrained it from
making false claims and “thereby
fieecing the public." The five-page
order also accused the company of
having indulged in 'unfair trade
practices.’ In the Commission's
opinion Body Wrap causes dehy
dration and constriction of blood
circulation. Since then it has ceas
ed to advertise.
Even more severe trouble was
in store for Sheri Louise. In May
1990 the MRTPC held that a Ms
Neera Gupta of Delhi was entitled
to a payment of Rs 5,02,450 from
the Sheri Louise Slimming Centre
of Bombay which gravely damag
Very recenUy, the MRTPC has
rapped an ayurvedic pharmaceuti
cal firm in Kerala for claiming
that its Kamilari medicine was a
sure shot cure for jaundice and
gall bladder stone ailments and
anybody who proved that it was
S ary of English has this defiJL nition of a quack: "ignor
ant pretender to skill especially in
^'dicine or surgery; one who ofWrs wonderful remedies or de
vices. charlatan." To play tire
quack is to “puff or advertise ex
travagantly (cure etc.).”
The Chambers says a quack is
the short form of quacksalver who
is a "boastful pretender to knowl
edge and skill (esp. in medicine)
that he does not possess. Accord
ing to Webster’s Neu> World Dic
tionary, he is “an untrained per
son who practises medicine
fraudulently" or “any person who
unscrupulously pretends to have
knowledge or skill that he does
not have in a particular field,
characterised by pretentious
claims with little or no founda
tion. dishonestly claiming to effect
a cure.”
And “quack” is almost always
used to define a fraudulent or inmmpetent practitioner of mediHBie. The American Heritage Dic
tionary says a quack is a person
who pretends to be a physician
and dispenses medical advice and
treatment. The Collins Cobuild
Dictionary says a quack is one
who promises a magical cure.
The Longman Dictionary of Con
temporary English says a quack is
a person dishonestly claiming to
have special, esp. medical, knowl
edge and practising a skill he does
not have: a quack doctor. Quack
ery, according to Longman, also
involves medicine, remedies.
methods and practises sold by
such persons.
A charlatan according to Cham
bers is a “mere talking pretender,
esp. one who claims to have medi
cal knowledge.”
So there isn't much to choose
between a quack and a charlatan.
Unluckily, in India we have a
plentiful supply of both quacks
and charlatans and hundreds of
eager-beaver consumers to keep
them in business.
Sadly, this brief history of both
quacks and consumers reveals
that the former are as persistently
and pestilentially active as the lat
ter are gullible geese. Thanks to
DAKSHA HATH reports on the
business of quacks, whose false claims
aliure millions of gullible consumers, to
mark World Health Day on April 7.
our lax laws and monitoring ma
chinery, which is as limp as old
elastic.
Where would quacks be without
gullible consumers? Nowhere. But
there are gullible consumers
willing to believe that someone
can cure their balding scalps, or
melt off their excess fat, or cure
their painful arthritis in a 'magi
cal,' ‘painless’ and 'quick' way. A
sharp look at both the species re
veals that while quacks want
quick money from their prey, con
sumers want quick results from
their predators. And inspite of the
Monopolies and Restrictive Trade
Practices Commission's (MRTPC)
well-meaning announcements and
pronouncements, both go on gravi
tating towards each other like the
moth and the Dame.
But there is something that
many consumers don't know —
which is, that the very same
quacks who had cheated them the
last time, may be the ones who are
doing so again in a new garb and
guise, under a new name and
racket. And with a fresh bunch of
promises, claims, cures and rem
edies.
onsider some of our most
famous or rather infamous
“ignorant and boastful pre
tenders and charlatans" who earn
ed MRTPC’s ire as well as severe
strictures from some of the con
sumer courts. The Maharashtra
State Commission for Consumer
Grievances Redressal was recent
ly obliged to use the same words
as the Webster’s New World Dic
tionary when it passed strictures
on‘the TABE Treatment Clinic
(which offers cures for arthritis,
spondylitis and many other ‘itis’
you can think of) and found it
guilty of "prescribing bogus medi
cine’ and defrauding the com
plainant by “posing as experts in
the line.”
C
These 'experts’ it may be recall
ed had dispensed “liquid chillie
medicine” to the complainant who
alleged that these medicines pro
duced swellings on both her legs
and she developed “unbearable
pain.” Moreover, a Bombay-based
journalist who visited the clinic
has said that his enquiries reveal
ed that the person overseeing the
clinic, a Ms. Ginwalla, introduced
herself to him as a doctor, but
wasn’t really one.
Consumers in many cities are
swarming to the consumer courts
with complaints against TABE
(Bangalore’s District Forum itself
is hearing more than a 100 com
plaints, while the MRTPC has
made TABE return money to
angry clients). But what is inter
esting is that before TABE was
launched, its top people were run
ning another business all over the
country, known as the Medical
Hair Centre (MHC) and, wonder of
wonders, this too attracted the ire
of the MRTPC!
The Medical Hair Centre,
launched in Bombay in 1987, snar
ed thousands of balding persons
when it claimed to have a “revol
utionary cure for baldness, scanty
and falling hair.” What it did not
tell its eager clients was that it
was using MinoxidU, a drug
known to have dangerous side-ef
fects. Now guess who was one of
the Directors of this MHC? None
other than Ms. Persis Ginwalla,
who is now the Director of the
TABE Treatment Clinics!
Initially, baldies of every shape,
size and colour, rushed to the
MHC which charged them fees
ranging from Rs 3,750 to Rs 6,750.
But slowly, the bald truth about
the MHC was exposed. One of its
advertisements
said,
“The
treatment involves high-frequency
scalp steaming (whatever that
means) and scalp stimulation. But
who got really steamed up was a
Medical Council of India has said
that the body wrap is not a
recognised therapy to lose weight.
“Consumers are fooled into believing
there’s a magic cure for balding scalps,
excess weight or a painful arthritis...”
certain Captain Salaria, who got a
bald patch after a spell of
treatment at the MHC!
But when he went to get his
money back, the directors
(Rustom and Persis Ginwalla)
would be invariably missing! Play
back singer Suresh Wadkar saw
no improvement in his receding
hairline after treatment.
Sunil Vazirani, a businessman,
found no improvement but lost 20
per cent of whatever hair he had!
Only when the Consumer Guid
ance Society of India was omin
ously mentioned by them, some
consumers’ money made an about
turn from the MHC’s coffers.
The MRTPC had the last word:
“It will be seen that most of the
claims made in ads and brochures
are either half-truths or net true
at all... Patients who were lured by
the advertisements find at the end
of the treatment that their hopes
have been belied." The MHC
(which had four clinics) was also
pulled up for its ‘tall claims’ and
for creating “an aura of mys
tique.” But by then several con
sumers were poorer in cash and
some in hair too!
A clinic going by the weird
name of Clinic 2000 was also pull
ed up by the MRTPC for “tall, false
and misleading claims" which
promised to arrest falling hair,
wrinkles, pimples, migraine and
excess weight!
Quacks and the fat ones: Many
fat persons yearn for a magical
shortcut to slimness, a yearning
which quacks are quick to exploit
by offering cures ranging from the
absurd to the truly dangerous as
proved by Sheri Louise. In
Calcutta, Sheri Louise closed
down after several clients com
plained of side-effects from their
slimming programme. The Con
sumer Education and Research
Centre (CERC), Ahrnedabad, ap
ed her health. The severe diet in
flicted on her by the centre made
her head spin, she could not walk
properly, felt heavy, and her work
suffered. She became very ex
hausted and an ulcer developed in
her oesophagus, which was a di
rect result of her starvation. Sub
sequently, Sheri Loiuse was for
bidden to open any new outlets by
a court injunction.
The Sheri Louise-Body Wrap
link: After the rise and fall of
pealed to the MRTPC for an en Sheri Louise another wonder slim
quiry after several clients com ming programme appeared on the
plained to it.
market. It was time for Body Wrap
The company was directed to to make a killing out of fat people.
pay Rs 37,234 to CERC and Rs 5,000 And no wonder of wonders, its di
to the MRTPC to cover costs. It rector, one Narendra Garodia, was
also had to promise to issue cor none other than the former direc
rective ads once a month for three tor of Sheri Louise! Body Wrap
months in the newspapers as its claimed to take off from five to fif
previous ads were false and mis teen inches after the first full body
leading. It also agreed to stop wrap (in women) and three to
claiming that it could cure or re eight inches from an average man.
lieve asthma, joint pains, dropsy
Body wrapping has been used in
etc. as it had done previously.
the US under many names includ
Sheri Louise also got into ing Swiss Trim, Insta Trim, Sud
trouble when the CERC charged denly Slenda etc. But the US Food
that Sheri Louise, while claiming and Drugs Administration (FDA)
to use no drugs, used ampheta has described the wraps as ‘frauds’
mine in its meal supplements. One ahd has taken severe action
client had developed giddiness against some promoters of
with high fever while undergoing wrapping devices. It has warned
the programme and had left. An that users of wraps and sauna
other
genUeman
developed suits may suffer from personal in
breathlessness and chest pain and jury, from circulatory constriction
was rushed to Nanavati hospital or cardiac accidents (from exercis
ing while wrapped). Even the
where he later died.
not so, would be awarded Rs
1,00,000! The Commission called it
an unfair trade practice and order
ed the New Udaya Pharmacy and
Ayurvedic laboratories of Cochin
to cease and desist from issuing
such advertisements. A client had
in fact taken all the tablets in the
pack of medicine bought by him
for a gall bladder ailment but did
not get any reliefl
Modus operand!: Quacks come
in all sizes, colours and shapes.
Hundreds of quacks abound in In
dia, mushrooming everywhere:
the moment one is lopped off, an
other springs up. And they con
tinue to flourish, thanks to con
sumers whose memories are short.
They eagerly swallow claims, tall
er than the Qutb Minar, and prom
ises that are phonier than Gulshan
Grover’s wigs!
Quacks meddle around in the
same patterns — offering magical
cures, instant relief, and testimo
nials of ‘satisfied’ clients wearing
silly smiles of contentment and
who are more often than not,
either related to the quack firm,
or are employees of it. These 'hap
pily cured’ folk are always 90 per
cent or 95 per cent better, as if a
miracle of heaven has enclosed
them in its blissful aura.
’ Continued on Page IV
Continued from Page I
In the case of TABE, many such
testimonials have later turned out
to be either phoney or mistaken.
But do consumers learn? They
don’t want to.
Charlatans always bring in the
foreign angle — parading an ‘ex
pert’ Australian, or an ‘expert^
Korean, or an 'expert' Japanese or
whoever, to impress the poor gull
ible locals, who don’t know that
these foreigners may have rather
murky backgrounds in their own
countries.
Quacks also have a mean, bel
ligerent and bullying streak to
them when they are exposed and
the deceived consumer starts
whining and shouting, depending
on his supply of grit. Most sinister
of all is the quacks’ total disregard
for the consumers they fleece.
Their callousness about the harm
they inflict through their half-bak
ed knowledge, untested devices,
eerie medicines, pastes,' oint
ments, dangerous drugs etc., is
shocking.
Sadly, the MRTPC — inspite of
its unceasing vigil — has no teeth.
The punishment given to quacks
is comically inadequate except M
rare cases, such as in Sheri Louis?
versus Ms. Gupta. The Health
Ministry should empower the
Medical Council to curb quackery,
especially the leaking and oozing
of foreign quacks into our coun
try, who are used by locals to sell
phoney treatments, phoney de
vices like magnetic mattresses,
magnetic pillows and the like for
painful ailments, endangering life
and cheating people. The Drugs
Controllers of every State should
be more responsible instead of
adopting their usual 'live and let
live’ attitudes.
In Bangalore we have a re
sponsible and reliable body to
provide information about
health — the Community Health
Cell. Telephone No. (080) 5531518.
So the next time a quack looms
up on your horizon with his “99
per cent” cures, his greasy, slimy,
phoney smiles, his pseudo-medical
jargon and sly promises to tone up
your sex life and decrease your
wrinkles etc., consult a respon
sible doctor or phone up the Cell.
But don't cough up your money
for a charlatan.
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DIVINE HEALTH
AS WEALTH
MULTI DIMENTIONAL FACE
OF HUMAN HEALTH
Dr_ AN|THA K|RAN
MD (AM)
DIVINE HEALTH AS WEALTH
EDITORS NOTE :
This is my maiden attempt to bring social awareness on the
importance of health in human life.
Jfte common proverb says :
When wealth is lost, nothing is lost.
WHEN HEALTH IS LOST, SOMETHING IS LOST.
WHEN CHARACTER IS LOST, EVERYTHING LOST.
This is very true picture in the present day wordly miseries.
As a medical doctor, I have realised the soaring costs of treatment
to set right problems in health. My intention is to remind people
one and all to live in tune will nature’s boundless love provided to
all living beings. I hope by almighty’s grace the information reaches
to one and all and everyone benefit in some way or other for
leading perfect life filled with joy and happiness.
Dr. ANITHA KIRAN M.B.B.S., MD (AM)
ANKAR BUSINESS CENTRE,
■19, Alankar Pearl Plaza,
2nd Floor, K. G. Road,
Bangalore - 560 009
«
Contact: FOR HEALTH EDUCATION
DIVINE HEALTH AS WEALTH
PAGE
CONTENT
1.
Heavens Grocery Store
2.
O2 of life
3.
Life a treasure beyond measure
4.
Understanding zero values in excistance
5.
Competition
6.
Divine health is wealth
7.
Body is the temple of God
Author:
Dr. ANITHA KIRAN M.B.B.S., MD (AM)
Publisher
Dr.(Mrs.) ANITHA KIRAN M.B.B.S., MD (AM)
ALANKAR BUSINESS CENTRE,
# 419, Alankar Pearl Plaza,
2nd Floor, K. G. Road,
Bangalore - 560 009
HEAVEN GROCERY STORE
As I was walking down - highway many years ago
I came upon a sign that read “Heavens Grocery Store”.
When I got a little Closer, the doors swung open wide
And when I came to myself, I was standing inside.
I saw a host of angels. They were standing everywhere.
One handed me a basket and said “My child shop with care”.
Everything a human needed was in that grocery store
^id what you could not carry you could come back for more.
First I got some PATIENCE LOVE was in that same row.
Further down was UNDERSTANDING, you need that
everywhere you go.
I got a box or two of WISDOM and FAITH a bag or two.
And CHARITY of course, I would need some of that too.
I couldn’t miss the HOLY GHOST, it was all over the place
And then some STRENGTH and COURAGE to help me run
this race.
My basket was getting full but I remembered I needed GRACE,
And then I chose SALVATION, for salvation was for free
I tried to get enough of that to do for you and me.
Then I started to the counter to pay for my grocery bill.
For I thought I had everything to do the Master's will.
As I went up the aisle, I saw PRAYER and put that in,
or I knew when I stepped outside I would run into Sin.
EACE and JOY were plentiful, the last things on the shelf.
SONG and PRAISE were hanging near, so I just helped myself.
«
Then I said to the angel. “Now how much do I owe? ”
He smiled and said, “Just take them everywhere you go”.
Again I asked, “ really now, how much do I owe ?”
“My child ” he said, “God paid your bill a long long time ago”.
O2 of Life
The element O2 is the fundamental thing needed by all living
beings. With its presence in the living organisms we are alive
without it we are dead that next moment. It is stating the obvious
that nature is the provider of this substance in a proportional ratio
of 20% in air. We breathe in this vital element 02 along with an
inert substance called N2to make up the volume of inspired Air.
This O2 in combination with an element iron embedded in
haemoglobin molecule is the fundamental basis of life in higter
animal life. The right combination and the proper circulation"!
this element in human beings determines truly the safety in
individual human beings. The moment this simple step is forfeited
for e.g.in blocked arteries the individual suffers myocardial
infarction commonly known as heart attack. If the block is complete
and not immediately attended to, the individual stop living.This
simple fundamental principle in human beings is akin to another
facet of human existence
Money is the need of all human beings right from birth to
death. Even a freely conducted baby delivery in a Govt, hoispital
set up still requires a fundamental material called scissors which
needs to be purchased with money by someone or some agency
Similarly at death we need at least a pile of wood to burn the
corpse and a minimum money for burial or funeral charges.In
between life and death we require money for substance of Ikn
namely,food, clothing and shelter. This provision is widely different
for different varieties.On deep analysis of human life it is realised
that to be born as human being is a wonderful gift of nature.
People have scientifically proved the evolutioary existence of
mankind and religions have documented the birth of human life
as occurring after a process of 84 lakhs births in the forms of
existence So to be born as human being is the greatest gift of
nature and what we offer back to the giver of this existence is the
way we lead our life. Most of us are born in miserable, unfortunate
2
circumstances brought upon a multitude of influential factors and
finally make in our life before we leave this bodily existence as
human beings.
Now the discussion is brought to light about the other aspect
of existence the money part of it named material existence. Certain
human beings have migrated into forests and meditated upon
the divine within and emerged out with higher truths proving that
the spirit within is not necessarily dependent on material existence.
The world famous example being Lord Budda. He did penance
O 8 years and attained Nirvana or Enlightenment. In modern
day life we have to live in this world look after the needs of our life
by giving what we have and get only that is destined for us. I have
certain good proposals to balance the material aspects of life in
an integrated fashion. The human link chain is a basis of it and
sustained by it. Even for pregnancy outcome expenses in terms
of delivery charges or operation charges, sometimes which go
beyond our capacity to pay is a great psychological burden on
the respective individual. Hence I request you to co-operate in
the avenue plan for second income opportunity also.
LIFE - A Treasure beyond measure
I have decided to indulge into concepts of life from various
angles and arouse a common feeling among brotherhood of
humanity. When the I component of existence gets into the body,
O'are called as living beings and out of death the final moment
in this life as out. This simple truth reveals to us that we are
outsiders of this body and temporarily occupy in a life time process.
We are the tenants of this body and simply the owners who
has given this permission to enter this particular body. Very simple
- our parents. Of all human-beings our parents occupy a significant
role of our lives by hiring part of themselves for our existence.The
next question arises are our parents the same always in all births
According to Hindu concept theory of Karma and never ending
3
processes of life and death, the parents are not our own.
Whenever there is something to be given by us and something to
be taken as exchange process we are born into that particular
womb. To illustrate this point, I've heard of a story. In the good
older days where traditional beliefs and systems existed in
absolute purity, an old Brahmin religiously used to do his
sandhyavandanam three times morning, afternoon, evening in a
regular manner. On one particular day, his slippers broke in the
mid afternoon session and he had to walk bare footed on hot sun
upto river point for offering the prayers. On his journey back, he
somehow surprisingly found a cobbler who repaired his slippdt;
and the Brahmin deeply felt gratitude for his timely rescue. The
cobbler was happy to provide relief to the aching burning feet for
the pious Brahmin offering Gayathri Sandhya Vandanam.
After few years both of them left this temporal existence. The
Brahmin had to clear the debt of repayment of cobblers job and
so had to take another birth. Hence he was born into another
Brahmin family. He was the only son to his parents who brought
him with extreme love and care. For 20 long years, they lived
very happily. On one parricular day, the house caught fire and
the son quickly evacuated along with his parents all the belongings
of the house outside. When the proces was over he quickly entered
the house closed the door and uttered to his present parents,
revered parents I adore you for unbounding love and affection
showered on me. Hence I have done my duty to protect all your
valuable even at this unexpected moment of our lives. I've finished
all my jobs for this life along with the gratitude I vow to you.
In my last birth I was a pious Brahmin. You were the cobbler
who helped me at desperate moment of life's journey. Since I
was so much body conscious not able to bear scorching feet in
hot sun, I accepted your help and hence had t take on another
life to clear all debts to existence. I pray to you to disown me from
this moment, since I no longer belong to you, once I'm burned in
this fire as ashes.
I leave this temporal body and existence to my eternal home
4
and reach my beloved parents waiting for me eternally. So saying
the pious soul got submerged in fire and remained no longer in
this world. This story depicts the essence of so many truths in
life. It is to be realized with one's own heart. All of us truly belong
to one divine spirit called the ultimate. A famous saying says Life is a gift of God and what we do in life is our gift to god.
Hence I conclude with this saying that life is a treasure beyond
measure. What we get in life is entirely our business and depends
on what we give as offering. Charles Darwin in his famous theory
propounded the concept of "Evolution of Species" and the struggle
Existence for choosing the best of species to be chosen for the
next level of existence. A biology student knows the classification
of different kinds of existence. The ultimate culmination of this
existence of Life on planet earth which is the only evident truth to
most of us is the evolution of Life force into Human body.
Now the Religious teachings of different faiths give importance
to this Human Life as a very noble and highest form of existence
of all Life forms in existence. The present Human Life is supposed
to have come into existence after passing through 84,00,000 (84
Lakhs) of Yonis - means sexual reproduction. The Human Life is
the evolutionary culmination of nature's forces. There is superiority
in existence compared to all life forms.
We as human beings are previleged to come from Zero point
existence upto the present level. We are endowed with thousands
of blessing in the form of intelligence, skills, knowledge learning
Rapacity, performing arts and innumerable countless capacities
•and other divine qualities like caring, loving, sharing, kindness,
Uhelpfulness, guiding others lives, cheerfulness, courage,
covetousness, humility, shrewdness and devotional. We are
endowed with highest mental facilities, wisdom discrimination.
All the dualities in life we experience are merely due to illusions
o'f ourselves and ignorance of our environment we have come
w/ith nothing and unto there we go with nothing. The question
arrises what are we holding onto in our life. The truth shines very
5
brightly. We are holding on to our non-selves and hence become
non sense. The present day urge is to bring to light this
fundamental truth in terms of reality. According to my Guruji
Revered Master Shri Raja Gopalachariji of Chennai, President of
Shri Ramachandra Mission, we have taken existence in human
form but die in animal existence. The statement may be shocking
but on introspection of one's own life will confirm the truth. The
reference to competition in modern day life is to Highlight this
aspect of Human existence. The competition should be
transformed from rat race in existence to expression of divinity in
us. I have observed this aspect of expression in many commc^
man's lives and hence moved in my heart to spread this message
as the key word in competition.
To transform competitiveness in our existence to
competitiveness in expression of Divinity in man. According to
the truth expressed by my Guruji in his exponential talks in various
parts of globe, He reveals, "The Divine being has taken up a role
in human existence. We have taken up this birth to fulfill human
values as an expression of Divine being residing in our hearts as
the very heart beat.
The heart beat is the same in all human beings. The purpose
of life is the same in all human beings. According to original truths,
in the beginning there was nothing in existence. The ultimate in
this nothingness, decided let me express myself in many ways
The initial thought that descended into creation was let me become
many or become infinite in my expression.
Understanding - ZERO VALUES IN EXISTENCE
The symbol Zero 'O' is a fundamental central concept in the
field of mathematics. The other side of the value of this symbol it
represents the letter O in the English language - representing
one of the letter vowel. The letter when gone into deeper meaning,
signifies the concept of circle. The definition of God they say is He represents himself as a circle with his centre anywhere in the
6
universe and circumference no where. By this definition, everyone
of us represents a central point of his existence in ourselves with
circumference upto infinity. We are born into life with zero aspect,
we have nothing to claim as our own even existence in the womb,
we bring nothing with ourselves. We are added on value by way
of mother's blood to form as a completely developed body at birth
into human life.
Delving deeper into this aspect of our life even a mother
cannot claim as her blood going into child formation as she herself
Oks come from similar process herself. A common saying says :
That the creator was so busy himself that he sent the mother on
his behalf. The question now arises to take care of life where
does all this process start from. The truth shines out in this aspect
very clearly that deep within ourselves we have the creator hidden.
He unfolds his divine energy in the form of matter that we in our
consciousness are able to perceive as with our sense. Now the
deeper truth reveals itself still further. The divine energy in our
existence is fundamentally the same in all of us.
To understand this much better. All of us called living creatures
arise out of one common back ground called Divine Energy. The
base of this entire living existence starts from a non-living platform
called Zero. The non living base of our bodies is formed out of
five elements of nature.
The Sun
The Ether
The Earth
The Water
The Air
NATURE
All the elements are called Pancha Bhutas. We can now once
again focus on the aspect of human existence. All the five
elements of Nature are blended in a perfect way to form a Living
Body by the processing of love. We lead our lives using this body.
7
This body and its sources the Life force exist in mutual
dependence during the existence on this planet earth. AS LIFE
FORCE is also coming from a single common source say the
Zero Point of existence where nothing exists. At the point 01 nothing
neither Life exists nor body exists. A truly dynamic process is set
into motion at this Zero point where in life force and body culminate
into a unified existence for LIFE. This dynamic process is truly
possible only by one divine aspect of Life called LOVE.
The word LOVE can be expanded in the light of truth as
Learning ourselves the value in Existence,
£
So at the beginning point of our existence all of us have a
Zero point where we are nothing neither alive nor having anything.
By the process of LOVE, we begin our journey in life first as
unicellular organism.
What is it that we should hold on to.
Very simple - ourselves, What is this ourselves - SOUL Expansion of soul - seeing ourselves universally with LOVE. This
one guiding star called LOVE is the fundamental part of our
existence. We ourselves deny this aspect because of our
ignorance of ourselves.
From the quotations of B'hagavad Gita - Lord Krishna finally
reveals to Arjuna - Remember Oh son of Kunthi -1 am the self of
all. It is from me the entire existence emerges and unto m.e
existence merges ultimately. Anyone who offers even a tiny crep
of water, a leaf or a flower with love and devotion I accept it with
all my heart as my true devotee.
Now ultimately the goal of human life is clearly explained
with this profound explanation as to living in love with the one
common creator of our existence with the spirit of reverence and
devotion, offering whatever may be possible with reverence and
devotion. So Life takes a circular turn starting from nothing and
going back into nothingness with the infinite happenings to
8
ourselves and life in between. I conclude with Swami
Vivekananda's famous quotation throughout the world just
reminding ourselves -
"Oh ! Brother & Sisters !
Arise, Awake, Stop not until the goal is reached.
The purpose of Human Life is to become united with the
creator who united with us in bringing ourselves into existence.
According to my beloved Master the ultimate goal of Human Life
to reach the ultimate.
May I name this narration as "LIFE, LOVE and INFINITY"
Seeing ourselves in this infinite existences with LOVE - SOUL
This process of self-realization can be achieved and also simply
understood by a simple form of meditation taught in Shri
Ramachandra Mission.
For a BETTER YOU - It is best to follow this Meditation.
A message of LIFE IN OURSELVES
SELF MARRIAGE
Trust is start of it.
Faith is part of it.
Love is the end of it.
Let's learn to love ourselves by ourselves.
By Self love - we are Loving the creator in all of us. We do not know his existence.
We do not know his whereabouts.
We Live with our selves - In conformation with the fundamental
-truth.expounded in Bhagawad Gita, I am the self of all - We Love
him by our Self - Love.
Self - Love is different from Selfishness.
Self - Love seeing ourselves in all Life forms.
9
COMPETITION
In this vast world with unlimited millions of population,
competition is the key word for success in any matter to prove the
theory of "Survival of the Fittest" as enunciated by the famous
scientist in biology Charles Darwin.
He was a doctor on ship and conducted world travel to various
islands and continents and took down notes of various life forms
on planet earth. After his successful voyage and tour he hit upon
the idea of evolution of species from the simplest unicelluA
organisms to the complex multicellular organisms that ultimate
product of nature's creation the Human being. He propounded
the theory that there is a general pattern in nature's creation in all
life forms. The simple observations made by him is applicable to
the stresses of modern day life.
1.
2.
3.
Life forms are interdependent on each other for their survival.
The fittest of the species in survival is chosen to exist normally.
There is a gradual selection of the species to the next order
of existence to exist in higher form or phylum as termed in
biology.
4.
5.
The ultimate evolution of life forms is the human being.
Religious and all spiritual organisation stress in all direct and
indirect ways the importance of human birth.
It has been found with specific research and authority tha^L
come into existence in human form - Life transforms itself gradually
from unicellular organisms through various births in different
species amounting to not less than 84 lakhs forms. The importance
of human birth has been stressed through times immemorial, as
being formed in the image of God. The conclusion that if we are
the image, the reality is truly God. How many of us have axis to
this fundamental aspect of human existence. The present day
humanity has to wake up from its slumber to achieve the goal of
ultimate. According to famous Vivekananda quotation :
10
" Arise, Awake, Stop not till the goal is reached
The humanity at large has to extend its co-operation in various
spheres with various spirit of competitiveness in divinity. All these
profound truths can be brought to light and realized by the process
of self-realization achieved by meditation on the heart.
Shri Ramchandra Mission was founded in 1945, by our
Adiguru Shri Ram Chandraji of Shahjahanpur. He developed
modified Raja Yoga as designed by Patanjali Asthanga Yoga
.j^'stem.
\
In this form of Meditation the Sadhak is directly placed on 7th
Step of Patanjali Yoga System. Let me enunciate the eight steps
of Yoga as designated by Patanjali. There are eight steps involved
in Ashtanga Yoga to reach ultimate truth in one's own life.
1.
YAMA
5.
DHARANA
2.
NIYAMA
6.
PRANAYAMA
3.
ASANA
7.
DHYANA
4.
PRATYAHARA
8.
SAMADHI (Merger with reality)
The goal of Dhyana is to achieve Samadhi - union with God
residing in our hearts as the very heart beat.
Without the heart beat we no longer exist in life. So let's get
Aied to finer human values like love, care, duty, affection as
fundamental basis of our existence and transform competitive
spirit in us in the direction of divinity.
Divine health is wealth
I had suddenly developed the idea of conveying to all human
beings some of the secrets of my knowledge in life. The best
medium to express was to communicate through letter writing. This
is the eternal medium which has sustained even Bhagvadgitha
11
and all holy scriptures through eternal ages and ravages of time
immemorial. A common saying says that a secret between two is a
secret and a secret between three is a secret of all. Precisely using
this old wisdom I wish to convey the secret to become the secret of
all. There is a life long motivation within me to reach to all human
beings in some form and serve to purely enrich their lives with
betterment, wisdom, health, wealth AND HAPPINESS.
On the other hand as a doctor in medicine for professional
qualification I have to fulfill something on my part toward^.
achievement of the national goal "HEALTH FOR ALL BY 200W
AD". Now the goal is postponed to 2020 AD and probable to be
achieved with spiritual understanding of Life processes. I racked
all my brain searched all means of knowledge and experiences of
life by me and all others whom I came across, to intimate the secrets
of life to one and all.
I'VE REALISED THAT I CAN GIVE A PRODUCT TO
HUMANITY ONLY FROM MY OWN KNOWLEDGE,
QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCES.
So delved to convey to people the importance of health in
human life. I AM trying to give insights to people to convey the
message that true divine wealth is hidden in ones normal existence
and is the self same to all human life.
I want to convey in a very simple manner the entire informatiorW>
regarding divine wealth in health. In these days, when common
man doesn't even think of God in the Business of life, its difficult to
percieve even the word Divine. Let me first conclude and summarise
what is meant by Divine. We see animal life, plant life and human
beings in life forms. Beyond all these forms and controlling their
birth nourishment and death is a higher plane from which energy
flows into all living forms and entire existence that we live, feel
knows comes out.
12
THIS DIVINE LIFE ENTERS NONLIVING MATTTER CALLED
BODY AS A LIFE FORCE AND GIVES EXISTENCE TO LIFE..
To understand in simpler terms
WE ALL KNOW, AT LEAST
MOST OF US WHO HAVE SEEN OR WITNESSED DEATH OF
RELATIVES, THAT WHEN LIFE FORCE LEAVES THE BODY
THEY DON'T EXIST ANY MORE.
So first of all we should know that we are living by the grace of
the creator with the life force given to us. This is invaluable for
vAout it we don't exist any more in this body. This is the
Fundamental divine wealth bestowed on us by Almighty god. The
value of this life force cannot be equated with all the crores of
rupees available on earth. This life force cannot be put back to
body even with the best of medical advances even investing crores
of rupees. So every human being is endowed with life force that
has got more value than crores and crores of rupees put together.
I have witnessed thousands of deaths in the role of a doctor or
heard of millions of deaths all over the world in the form of natural
disasters, like earthquakes volcanoes, floods and man made world
wars. I HAVE SEEN THE DISPLAY IN KG ROAD BANGALORE,
THAT EVERY SECOND AN LIC POLICY IS BEING PAID AS A
SURVEY NEWS..
The recent threat to human existence by way of nuclear war is
also known to most literate human beings, with the knowledge of
.ruth percieved by my own self. I Realise that life is precious. It
is truly a gift of god given free of cost out of sheer love to us. Hence
the truly beloved of all of us is the only creator who offered a precious
thing out of his divine treasures called life force in all our lives. This
life force is dependent on two subtle forces called breath and
HEART BEAT FOR REGULATING life activities and are called
vital parameters in Human life.
A doctors job is to deal with human beings until life parameters
are maintained and all professional training has been developed
13
to make them function until the last moment of breath. Examples
of latest developments is the heart transplantation techniques when
patient own heart cease to exist.
Now the fundamental question arises why does man want to
extend his existence on planet earth when his term called life period
is over, IT IS because man realise in the nick of movement that
LIFE IS PRECIOUS and all life's collection called money matter is
much more inferior to the spiritual manifestation called life. Once
back to life he can again earn Money, but this lifetime with all
intricacies and goodness are deprived the moment.Life is out W
the body.
In ancient traditional beliefs they righty say shiv left from body
become shav or dead body. This simple truth known to all human
beings is the fundamental information needed to understand the
basis of humanity.
Shiv or life force is the existence of the lord himself in all our
hearts and no barriers created either by nationality, caste creed,
sex, religion can separate between human beings in this regard.
This is the basic truth which I discovered after a long research as
a doctor as well as human being.
TRUE LOVE OF THE LORD is to manifest as life force and
takes care of all life activities. THIS LIFE FORCE is the diviostreasure beyond measure.
THE BELOVED OF DEATH IS LIFE
THE BELOVED OF LIFE IS SOUL
THE BELOVED OF SOUL IS GOD
LIFE IS DETERMINED BY INTERPLAY OF POSITIVE
AND NEGATIVE FORCES.THE BALANCING POINT OF BOTH INFLUENCES
DETERMINE THE QUALITY OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE.
14
The price we have to probably pay is to serve all mankind with
the talents, capacities, skill learning and knowledge we are able to
access in our lives. Let me summarise at this juncture the meaning
of life.
This life force operates on a very subtle fundamental element
of Nature called 02. The presence of it in existence is not visible
but the absence of it just for a second can turn to death of the
body. Hence doctors are trained in all emergency care of critically
ill patients to provide 02 AND LIFE LINE TO MAINTAIN FLUID
•id electrolyte balance.
This critical care is really a very expensive and involves
dedicated efforts ofdoctorteam members. HENCE THE INDIRECT
message of divine wealth the lord himself takes care of existence
on planet earth by his invisible manifestation called divine love in
life manifestation in general. This maintenance of life is carried by
the lord in the form of nar narayan which is work at life forces from
various angles. Right from functioning of various systems in our
human body called circulatory system, respiratory system, nervous
system., gastrointestinal system, endocrine system, muscular
system, skeletal system, excretory system, cuticular system.
THE PROPER BALANCING OF ALL SYSTEMS OF
HUMANBODY DETERMINE THE STATUS CALLED HEALTH
^ND THE IMBALANCE IN ANY ONE SYSTEM MANIFESTS AS
II health, so far in existence no one has true
KNOWLEDGE TO AVOID ILL HEALTH AND TO REMAIN IN
PERFECT BALANCED HEALTH, EVEN MODERN ADVANCE IN
MEDICINE IN BITS AND BYTES CANNOT ASSURE OF PURE
HEALTH totally or free of cost. This health maintainence determines
our types of survival on planet earth.
OUR KNOWLEDGE OF DIFFERENT DISEASES AND
TREATMENT COSTS GIVE AN INDIRCT VALUE OF OUR
EXISTENCE.
15
LETS US START FROM CIRCULATORY SYSTEM.
The heart as long as it functions without our knowledge or
interference has no true value. The moment there is trouble to
heart in the form of myocardial function, instant death can occur.
The modern medical advance for the past few decades have made
it possible to make the tick tack back to heart after an expensive
angioplasty involving several lakhs of rupees. Now the indirect divine
treasure to entire mankind free of cost is several lakhs of rupees.
Hence truly vedic Maharishiyogi has shown in TV that Lakshm^
is residing in the hearts for every minute the heart is ticking free of
cost worth crores of rupees, without any demand to pay urgently
the crores of rupees that we really owe due to its function. Since
Lakshmi is the beloved of Narayan it doesn't feel separate from
beloved. HENCE THE ancient wisdom Namarayan holds good even
to this day. Human LIFE IS LAXMINARAYAN MANIFESTATION.
THIS IS DIVINE WISDOM AND CANNOT BE PERCIEVED BY
ORDINARY HUMAN BEINGS THE TRULY BELOVED to all of us
is one and only one named almighty force or the ultimate. Hence
man has to rise above all his petty desires, limited knowledge of
religious faiths, slash all religious bigotry and rise up as one force
called humanity,.
This humanity should be in tune with nature. Man is a product
of nature and life force.
IN NATURE ALL DROPS OF WATER EITHER FROM SE/<f.
OR RIVER ARE ONE AND THE SAME.
IN AIR ALL MOLECULES ARE BASICALLY OF SAME
NATURE.
IN EARTH ALL PARTICLES ARE BASICALLY SOIL THOUGH
COLOURS, TEXTURES, PROPERTIES ARE DIFFERENT IN
DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHIAL PORTIONS OF THE GLOBE.
THE SUNSHINE IS BASICALLY THE SAME WHEREEVER
IT SHINES. It does not discriminate different regions of earth. ONIy
16
THE DISADVANTAGE OF EITHER FACING towards the sun away
from sun we have polar regions where sunshine penetration is
difficult.
Our human body is basically formed as a composite product
from all these sources of nature mixed with a very precious element
called divine love emerging from the creator himself. So in diverse
manifestations of human life with different nationalities, cultural
belief, religios, faiths, superstitous beliefs, certain commonness
e^sts in all human life. The common denominator of all human life
twig originating from same spiritual source called creator by his
divine will, same products of nature called pancha boothas, same
processes called life and death common to all human beings. Inspite
of all diversities in each individual human life, there is unity in
diversity in true sense, not by faith. It is my observation that who
ever has true love for life or creator has better prospects in life. I
want to spread this silent message to all human beings, This is the
true secret I wish to delve for one and all. After this brief introduction
to fundamental aspects fo life, I WANT EVERY ONE TO REALISE
THE DIVINE RESOURCE FOR ALL LIFE MANIFESTATIONS.
I HAD THE RARE PREIVILEGE TO WITNESS HUMAN
BEINGS OF 6 MONTHS PREGNANCY trying to gasp for life and
also several elderly men or women gasping for life force called air
before death. I had also witnessed in prestigious hospitals like Apollo
Vijaya health centre in Chennai, comatosed patients of different
cW>urs of bodies of different nationalities lying in the same state of
coma struggling to live, They have a desire to live but are helpless
and totally dependent on nursing staff and specialist doctors for
their ultimate survival. There are various true incident of life where
human beings have come out of deep comatosed state to perfefct
life after extreme care of their bodies being handled by specialist
doctor and nursing staff. This brings to light the next facet of divine
wealth, divine love and care taking care of every aspect of life and
body for proper functioning.
17
THE BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF GOD.
I am informing here at this stage, the information given 10
years ago by a physician Dr. Rajesh Vishvanathan in an article in
Tatvaloka magazine. He was a general practioner in a medicine
with a keen interest in spirituality and culture. The topic being
Human body is a temple of God. The relevance of treating body
ailments in relation to the mind is gaining greater acceptance among
doctors. Contributions of ancient systems are therefore coming
into focus now. Holism is a medical philosophy that entails
consideration of the whole body in a total environment the corpoi^
body, the mind and the soul each influencing the other. It believes
that the body, mind and soul must be in harmony with one another
and the spirit is the force that gives meaning and direction to life
and also inner and sustained happines.
HISTORICAL ASPECTS :
Holism in the form of ayurveda is known to us in India since
the early vedic period. Holism was known to Hippocrates as is
evident in his writing. However, in the 1650's the cartesian concepts
of life propagated by the Rene descartes went against holism and
body and mind were regarded as two separate entitles. Then came
the spectacular advances in anatomy, physiology, pathology,
Biochemistry and Pharmacology.
Then came the dawn of anibiotic era and man was able
conquer the microbe with the advance of allopathic concepts,
holism went into oblivion. In addition, giant strides were made in
sanitation hygiene and preventive medicine and life expectancy of
modern man rose rapidly.
REVIVAL OF HOLISTIC MEDICINE
However in recent time, while many physical disorders have
been eradicated, new disorders have sprung up, namely the stress
18
related diseases. These diseases defy the current orthodox
treatment. Stress today is, perhaps the greatest single underlying
factory that causes the manifestatin of various diseases. Of late,
there has been a heartening revival of holism. Evern the world
health organisation has recognised the complementary systems of
medicine. Many orthodox allopathic medical practioners have
started incorporating Ayurveda, Yoga and relaxation techniques
into their treatments.
^RIGINS OF AYURVEDA
Ayurveda was first known from Brahma, Prajapathi received
it. Then it went to Aswinidevas and from them to lord Indhra.
Lord Indhra taught ayurveda to Dhanvanthri, who in turn, taught
it to Susrutha and other sages. According to charaka, it is said that
Lord Indhra taught Ayurveda to Rishi Bharadwaj from whom it
spread to other sages. But it is certain that the original authors of
ayurveda were divine beings endowed with extraordinary powers
of intuition and vision. THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN
AILMENTS AND REMEDIES WAS PERFECT.
The original texts of ayurveda consists of eight parts, they are
salya or surgery; Salakhya or Urdhvanga, which pertains to the
surgery of the ear, nose, throat, Bhuta Vidya or demonology,
Kaumara,
bhtyakala
or
paediatrics,
Agadantra,
M|SAGARAVAIRODHIKAPRASMANA OR TOXICOLOGY,
ffasayana or elixirs, Vijikarana or Aphrodisiacs and kaya chikitsa
or general therapeutics.
AYURVEDATODAY
Ayurveda has come a long way today from vedic times. Many
orthodox medical practioners are again showing a keen interest in
ayurveda and are applying the modern scientific methodology to
investigate the many drugs in ayurvedic pharmacopoeia.
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Unfortunately there is bias among people for the
complementary systems of medicine. Besides, there are very few
competent scholars who can properly interpret the sankrit texts. A
lot of authntic Ayurvedic texts have been lost because of foreign
invasion and also by ravages of time. The extensive urbanisation
and deforestation have destroyed several herbs of rare medicinal
value. In addition, chemical pollution by fertilizers and the
atmosphereic polution have had a telling impact and the herbal
flora is fast dissapearing. ihspite of all this, Ayurveda is being
recognised as a holistic systems of medicine which holds that the
body is the foundation of all wisdom and the source of all suprdBfe
Kaya chikitsa or general therapeutics. Ayurveda uses herbs, trees,
spices and alcohol extracted from animal origin. Traditional
ayurveda also belives magical formulae, the use of gem stones,
amulets talisman and mystical methods to treat the patient.
INSPITE OF ALL THIS, Ayurveda is being recognised as a holistic
system of medicine which holds that the body is the foundation of
all wisdom and the source of all supreme objectives-DHARMA,
ARTHA, KAMA AND MOKSHA. Ayurveda is perhaps the only field
of medicine where the mind the body and soul of the patient are
taken into consideration during treatment.
Towards the proper stability of the temple of god, different
systems have been allocated with different powers. They are from
within without, CIRCULATORY SYSTEM- For circulation of
oxygenated blood to all parts of body.
LYMPHATIC SYSTEM - Drainage of tisue fluids from inter celluar
spaces. RESPIRATORY SYSTEMS- Delivery and interchange of
gases like 02 and CO2 FOR METABOLIC FUNCTIONS.
NERVOUS SYSTEM- To activate all parts of body rightly called
master of the body.
GASTROINTESTINAL SYSTEMS- To receive food materials and
provide energy source for all body parts.
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ENDOCINE SYSTEMS, Regulating all functions of the body from
growth of the body from infancy to old age and maintenance of all
vital parameters for the body.
SKELETAL SYSTEM - Main supportive frame work providing stable
placement of all vital organs like brain, heart, lungs and locomotion
of the body.
MUSCULAR SYSTEM- Voluntary movements of the body.
RETICULOENDOTHELIAL SYSTEM- Formation of blood and
defence systems in the body.
REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEMS- Continuation of the species
CUTICULAR SYSTEM FOR Protective covering of all internal
organs in a compact manner.
The smooth governing of all these powers requires proper
balance of mind and stability in changing circumstances of Life.
The mind can only be stable when it is firmly fixed in soul
consiousness. The Soul state of human life is the basis of origin of
life itself. The entity of soul is peace, happiness and prosperity.
The soul of all beings are bound to one source called the
"PARAMATMAN".
Hence loving all living beings in particular human beings is
actually loving the ALMIGHTY himself. The Famous adage "LOVE
ALL WHOM HE LOVES" is to be adopted as a true source of wealth
V all human beings.
The purpose of human life is actually to love the creator with a
heart full of wisdom and intelligence. He brought forth the entire
existence with a mere divine will out of just nothingness. I would
like to summarise the true divine treasures that anyone can easily
discover in the light of modern costly treatment availed to those in
needy.
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Consider one aspect called consiousness this is freely available
to all humanbeings. The moment this is deprived, such as in coma
states countless lakhs of rupees and continous dedicated
humancare is essential to artifically sustain life activities. THIS
SIMPLE TRUTH BRINGS TO LIGHT THAT THE VITAL FORCE
OR LIVING FORCE WITH WHICH HUMANBEINGS ARE
ENDOWED IS WORTH COUNTLESS CRORES OF RUPEES IN
THE BANK.
Any human being can realise in his life force that the moment
this life force is withdrawn from the body even countless crore^,rupees will not enable any doctor or genius to put it back to body
even with best of efforts. In history here have been episodes of
certain humanbeings surviving the battle of death by intense
treatments by doctors by way of resuscitation measures. Few have
survived the tales of the other world they were transported to after
death. Those are Rare circumstances brought on by almighty,
himself once again surely by divine will.
An ancient wisdom quotes saying that the lifetime on planet
earth predetermined and is merely the allotment of count of breaths
in ones life time. Just like petrol diprived vehicle cannot be moved
one single inch by the best car driver in the world sitting in the best
car model in the world, similarly the body life force determines the
duration of stay in planet earth. Hence breathng techniques like
Pranayama have been practised by many yogis in India, utilising
this knowledge. They have brought down count of breath fr£fc.
average 16-22 minute to 2-4 minute and sometimes have lived
upto 250 - 300 years in rare circumstances.
Next I would like to inform the value of circulatory system in
human life. The ticking of heart beat is the only common factor to
all human life. Who is this performing the job ceaselessly without
charging a single paisa from anyone living. I believe it is the common
factor called ultimate or pranasya prana giving life to ail living beings.
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The moment heart beat stops, the best of medical treatments
involves right from heart transplants involving several crores of
money and also a condition to accept it from another living dead
human being with compatible blood grouping and tissue typing his
to cornpactibility. Other instances like rhythm disturbances involving
artificial implants are also expensive and involved with risks.
So those human beings deprived of money should feel happy
about the possession of invaluable life with themself by negative
comparisons. Coming to congenital defects like thalassemia,
i:^)lving life long blood transfusion to maintain life involving lakhs
of rupees, people without this problem should feel happy, they are
not bothered to spend such huge amounts for maintenance of life.
Coming to function of lungs, they are abused in the national
diseases like tuberculosis and pollution effects with proliferation of
lung cancers.
There is no replacement for function of lung even with countless
crores of rupees. WHO has contributed a massive plan to eradicate
tuberculosis out of the globe but patient noncompliance, ignorance
and non-co-operation have put bars to this wonderful health project
to save mankind from global disaster. With continued unabated
AIDS spread, inspite of all education measures & massive launches
globally to eradicate the same which might be the same, which
might be the powerful weapon to wipe off must of human life from
planet earth. The twin coimbinations of AIDS victims susceptible
Wfuberculosis and emergence of resistant strains to anti
tuberculosis durg. It is hightime human life has to wake up from
slumber, remove ignorance in everyone's life and install proper
values to ones own life.
Now coming to liver, cirrhosis of liver commonest problem can
ultimately lead to coma and death. Recently an article was published
in "Life positive magazine of a lady lawyer being rescued from the
doors of death by liver transplantation spending huge sums of
money.
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Indirectly all those human beings with good liver function should
feel grateful that they are living happily without having to spend
huge sums of money for their survival Coming to skeletal system,
those people who sustained fractures know that without internal
stability by skeletal system, no action is truely possible Some
patients have to spend lakhs of rupees for problems like hip
replacement, or total knee replacement. Everyone must now be
familiar with our honourable Prime Minister Vajpayee, who had
undergone knee surgery for his arthritis problem. Coming to
endocrine system, pituilary defeciency leading to dwarfish can be
corrected at young age by spending 2-3 lakhs of rupees to^^t
human growth harmone injections available to their lives.
Take the function of WBCS in human blood any disorder at
any time can lead to leukemia or blood cancer. The treatment
involves several lakhs of rupees and sometimes life is not
guaranteed. With the brief mention of several human systems doing
their job to promote life force under pure divine will, I urge all human
beings to wake up in true sense to pure love and devotion to almighty
God, who is providing freely without any charge assigned to them
when human beings take charge of controlling their lives, it involves
several crores of rupees and sometimes is without proper results.
The love of God boils down to "Work as Worship". For all human
life is interdependent for various aspect of life in present day world.
We have fullfledged human beings serving perfectly entire humanity
with wonderful services. Every human serves within the rangr^nf
his mental capacity and self confidence. Farmers, milkman, ras
driver auto drivers, pilots, railwaymen, postal services, computer
professionals, merchants, servants, doctors, lawyer's scientists. All
categories of service are beneficial to one anotheer. Let's learn to
respect every human being who serves and let's develop an attitude
of servicing the divine being in everyone, who ever serves.
In present day modern life all human beings are put to stress
in one form or another either directly or indirectly. The stress levels
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in one's life is benefecial up to certain levels. Scientifically it has
been categorised assigning numbers 1 to 300. Scores upto 150
are essential to ordinary human life. Beyond 300 levels, people
give way to a host of diseases and complicating problems of life.
So it is essential to get assessed of the stress levels in one's life by
an expert doctor or councellor.
Stress-related diseases are increasing day after day. The
manifestation is dependent on the weak areas in ones life. In some
neople it manifests at physical level in the form of Bood Pressure
wfe, peptic ulcers, diarrtioca, heart attacks. In some people the
manifestation is poor memory, lack of concentration, mental
depression etc. In some people the manifestation is at spiritual
level resulting in lack of interest in life, oversion to duties of life or
even to suicidal tendencies. Once again a health checkup is needed
to get assessed of one's defects in health and at which level they
manifest by an expert doctor. After evaluation it is advisable to get
the problem corrected to the best possible solution. Certain
destressing programmes might give a temporary relief. Permanent
solutions can be achieved by the process of meditation.
At present with the problems of over-population and stressful
life, entire humanity has to unite in the spirit of love of one another
in the form of pure services, caring, sharing and nurturing to manifest
the ultimate dream of nature from whom we emerged our lives
^mely UNITY IN DIVERSITY. All life is a manifestation of natural
^sources available in the universe. The Pancha Bhutas or five
elements of nature blend in a fashionable way in individual life by a
processing of the factor called love. The five elements of nature
are sun, air, water, earth and ether.
The sun gives warmth and light without which life can perish
any moment. Nature of sun is only to give, not expecting anything
back. Hence sun exists eternally backed by creators divine energy
that never gets depleted. Scientists have specifically calculated
25
the survival of sun and the fomation of new suns, the period extends
for billions of years. So the first law of nature backing the principle
of life is give and only give never get back. You only continue to
exist to give. I have observed several lives of people and found
they implemented this principal of life and have achieved marvellous
heights in life.
I can quote the sayings of a great noble soul who departed
from this planet earth, Paramachari Shankaracharya of Kanchi
Kamakshi Peetam. He declared about his uncle who guided his
initial steps in spiritual life and discovered that certain souls Mborn just for the sake of other's life. Their existence is like the sun
for planet earth. Astrologically the sun is placed in the heart region
of human body. Hence the truth shines clearly that unselfishness
in one's life is the true divine wealth that can prevent myocardial
infarction and ultimately death.
Now I shall discuss the aspect of air. Air is a mixture of several
gases and invisible and lighter. The only gas element essential to
all life is Oxygen. The air by itself has no real value. The association
of air in our life systems gives tremendous valve. The moment O2
is deprived to our life we exist no more in this body. Hence in all
critically ill patients in Hospitals O2 is administered and the
maintenance of this single element in comatosed patrients runs to
several lakhs of rupees. The problems of enthanasia have
originated because of this factor.
Now the true picture that life is really precious has to emerge
in all human minds. The preciousness is the same to all individual
human beings. Just like O2 of Air is vital to life the association of
individual soul to the ultimate soul is really a great necessity. Without
that connection life cannot really manifest. Every minute life is
renewed with fresh supply of O2 and any moment this process
ceases for whatever reason, death in the present body is imminent.
The continous supply of this element is given freely by nature. We
26
have to offer a spirit of love in our heart for this ceaseless effort of
nature to make us alive.
Now coming to the element of water. Water is the circulating
medium for the processes of life. In almost all living organisms,
60% of mass is filled with water right from unicellular organism
until human life. The depletion of normal reserves results in various
low energy states. Hence modern medical science first resorts to
providing life line and O2 to all ill patients requiring such treatments.
W Water molecules are the same composition namely H2 and O.
The quality differs depending on source of origin. Sea water is
different from river water. Water of life force in internal working is
compared to money resources in human life. Human Life is
dependent on finances. Depletion of this commodity leads to
miseries, poverty and lack of quality in human life. So all human
beings have to lead a balanced life with both spiritual welfare as
well as material welfare.
Spiritual welfare is taken care by almighty himself. He
distributes the same quality of divine love for existence on this
planet earth. Material welfare is dependent on man to man co
operation and understanding. The imbalances of human life in
material plane needs to be corrected immediately if quality of life is
to be assured to all human beings. This is the real task that every
^dividual human being has to undertake to better atleast four other
jreople life other than their family members especially those people
previleged with lots of money. At this juncture I have to bring to
light that all the material riches whatever be the amount will be left
behind at the moment of death. This moment may be any
predetermined time in one's life. The good deeds done with money
alone will be carried forward to next birth in cases of reincarnation.
Man has to awaken to hold on to real treasures like the soul
which is the basis of all life and learn the attitude of only utilising
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material wealth for fulfillments of life. Now coming to the element
of nature called earth. Earth is a silent best ower of stability in
everyone's life. Whatever be our status in life the gravistational
pull, scientifically discovered is the one tethering back to ground
plane in all our movements. Earth offers food t all living beings. No
one can imagine life without earth. Earth is the solid component
namely body in our life.
The geographical boundaries are different, types of soils are
different but the graivitational pull on earth's surface is basically
same, without which we would be sent flying off the surface. Wlgrt
can we offer back to earth is atleast plant a few trees to pre\Mit
soil erosion and prevent deforestation.
Now coming to ether, it is actually nothingness giving space
for the shapes of one bodies. Perhaps it is the channel we go back
from this life once at death all elements are dissolved from individual
bodies back to resources. The element is a constant reminder that
we came here with nothingness and go back empty handed once
we leave this life from existing body. The reminder of nothingness
is a great necessity to ease the problems of present day's existence.
Having discussed in brief a cursory view of delicate balance
of human life on various factors interdependent on each other.
Now I shall discuss the aspect of soul. Soul is the source of life.
Soul is the real driving force behind all activities of life. Souls are
backed by the ultimate creator. Soul is immortal and body is mortal.
So there is constant struggle between the immortal being and me
mortal being. This constant stress can only he destressed by
mergence of soul ultimately into the immortal spirit of the ultimate.
Until this purpose is fulfilled, life and death is a constant encounter
in a soul's existence. Hence the ultimate goal of human life is to
submit the soul within back to its source the ultimate by a process
of inward journey. To achieve this process we have to maintain an
outward journey of existence in this body and do all the needful for
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its survival on planet earth.
The noble souls who lived on this planet earth have exemplified
by their deeds the true purpose of human life. Famous personalities
like Swami Vivekananda, Lord Buddha have remained immortal
since they achieved the true purpose of human life. Let me quote
at this juncture.
LIVES OF GREATMEN REMIND US
TO MAKE OUR LIVES SUBLIME
AND LEAVE FOOT PRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME.
To achieve this end we have to begin with the famous prayer in
our hearts " ASATOMA SAD GAMAYA
TAMASOMA JYOTHIRGAMAYA
MRITHYORMAM AMRITHAM TAMAYA "
"OM SHANTHI OM SHANTHI OM SHANTHI"
The above Sanskrit prayer says ;
Lead me from unreal to real
Lead me from darkness to light,
Lead me from death to immortality"
Let there be peace within myself
Let there be peace within my vicinity.
Let there be peace in the whole universe.
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It would be very relevent to quote the recently published article in
Times of India December 31st 2000.
Shri Basaveswara a famous social reformer of his times in 12th
century reverberates his inner feelings of heart in the following stanza
crystalizing exactly my view points expressed so far. “Make this body of
mine the body of the veena. Make my heart the gourd of it on which it
rests. Make my nerves the strings and my fingers the tuning sticks play
the music through me O ! Lord Kudala Sangama strike your music on
this musical instruments of my body.
It all began years ago, when the swamiji moved by the sufferir^of
people around him, climbed the hill and meditated in a cave in the solitude
of forest.
“I shall fill my words in the necter of your name”.
I shall fill my eyes with the beautiful form, O Kudala Sangama
Deva.
I shall fill myself whole and entire in Thy lotus feet”
The Swamiji cries out;
Those who have build a temple to God
in the form of humanitarian services but what can a have not like
me do ?
My legs are the pillers of the temple,
that I am going to build
my body itself is that temple.
Listen O Lord, the temple built of brick and mortar,
temple down in decay but this moving temple of there known
is no rain. To all who seats, hew quotes basava ;
The power of knowledge destroys ignorance.
The power of light dissipates darkness.
The power of truth is the foe of the untruth.
The sarana’s experience of god is the
sole cure for worldiness.
I conclude for one and all this last message the sure cure for all
worldly and human problems is to seek to god in one’s own heart and
find him there.
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Reletions on the self & soul
The wise should surrender speech in mind.
Mind in the knowing self.
The knowing self in the spririt of the universe.
And the spirit of the universe in the spirit of peace
HAPPINESS
LIFE
HEALTH
+VE
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