Challanges in Research of Ayurveda and its journey

In today's world, it is becoming increasingly clear that health or disease is a manifestation of long term habits and practices, i.e. lifestyle. Modern medicine philosophy has made great strides in understanding the various systems that comprise a human body. However, it lacks maturity in its understanding of the continuum, evolution and interconnectedness of the concepts that make up a human being. As a result, its treatments focus on the parts, without understanding the impact on the whole, sometimes, knowingly missing the bigger picture to achieve gains in the short term.

Prevention of disease in the modern world seems to be a fight of “us versus them”, adopting the attitude of an ostrich with its head in the sand. Very little attention is paid to strengtehing the human through a harmonious and balanced lifestyle, as it necessitates living in view of one's needs rather than wants.  Perhaps living in a simple yet spiritually abundant manner would not benefit the economy or growth numbers needed to fuel the rampant consumerism.

The epidemic rise in diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, hormonal imbalances, neurological disorders and numerous others bear testament to this disastrous turn in the journey of the human consciousness.

There is therefore an obvious search and extensive drive to find alternatives. The 'alternative'  are taking us to the ancient, traditional, time tested medicine systems established at much earlier times of human existence, such as Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese system of Medicine and many other traditional system of healing. Recently, a lot of hope has been generated around these systems. Many modern scientific organizations are curious about the ancient healing systems and their efficacy. Researchers, scholars, practitioners, thinkers are working on reinventing and reconfirming these sciences. Investors and market gurus are trying to design formulas to treat diseases and re-present age old wisdom to the world in a well packaged form.

Some of the questions asked about Ayurveda are :

How does this science work ?

Does it work now or was it relevant only at that time of its inception and practice?

Will it work now with same efficacy ?

Is it safe ?

Do the medicines have the same potency as mentioned in the scriptures?

Are the ideal lifestyle and diet mentioned in the scriptures still relevant to this modern age?

Will there be any adverse effects or side effects by taking such formulations?

Will there be interactions if used along with conventional Allopathic medicines?

Is the dosage mentioned in the old scriptures, so many years ago, still applicable to human beings in this modern age ?

Are the manufacturing and pharmacological procedures for manufacturing such formulations studied and understood?

Are the metals and minerals safe and prepared as per the principles?

Do they work ? Do they create any adverse effects by getting deposited in the body if not absorbed properly ?

Can they be standardised?

Can they be modified?

How can it be made cheaper so that all classes of society can afford it?

What are the diagnostic tools and parameters for the practitioner and can those be standardised?

Is there a possibility of creating a standard protocol for each disease that Ayurveda can treat?

How can good quality herbs be cultivated ?  What are other agriculture related methods?

What are the ways to prevent excess use and wastage of herbal species?

What are the ways to conserve them ?

How can we maintain the ecological balance and help the survival of species which are at the verge of extinction?

Can local herbs in any part of the world be studied in the parameters of Ayurvedic understanding and be used for treating diseases?

From these questions, it can be broadly understood that it involves the fundamental research to establish and accept something as useful. In order to understand how it works, studies in pharmacology, biochemistry, clinical studies, genetics, bio genetics, agriculture, manufacturing sciences and marketing etc. are needed. It appears that Ayurveda has to go through all these modern research protocols, expectations and then it will get its acceptance which will be considered as an important stage in the establishment of this medical science. But, Ayurveda is already an established science with a legacy of  many years of practice. Its unique significance is that its principles are unchanged and can be applied to any given time and to any part of the world. Why is it so ? The answer, in brief and in part, is that its principles arose from a deep, intuitive study of the macrocosm, the microcosm and the laws of nature. Its principles represent a holistic understanding of the universe and of life, of which man is a part.

There are some aspects that Ayurveda also states must change, depending on geography, human race, climate etc. but the fundamentals of this science are unchanged. That in itself is an evidence of a perfect science.

It is not an easy task when the language of what we want to study and the language which is used to study, are different. And we are talking of the time space of what we understand as more than 5000 years. It looks impossible but efforts are going on in this direction. Since independence,  Ayurveda has been re-established in India as one of the mainstream medical systems and much effort has been made in this direction since then. The establishment of more than two hundred Ayurvedic graduate colleges and around sixty post graduate colleges, research institutes in the past six decades of independent India is definitely creditable. This is a great comeback for Ayurveda considering the hundreds of years of foreign rule and colonization that almost washed out its existence.

The foreign invaders almost erased Ayurveda from Indian culture as a system of medicine and it was considered very unscientific and mystical. However, it was saved from this fate by the efforts of the older generation of India which was trying to preserve all the traditional knowledge and prevent it from getting destroyed and erased. Hand in hand, the younger generation of India was fighting for freedom.  Whatever we have of Ayurveda is only because of those great souls who kept on practising Ayurveda and delivering it to the next generation in a Gurukula method or as a familial tradition and profession. It is only because of those wise people who believed in this science and their efforts to continue this legacy of teaching that this science could be delivered to us. They preserved the scriptures and they practised Ayurveda in their houses and community thus keeping it alive till Independence. The influence of British teachings in schools and colleges had already done great damage in the minds of the young generation by creating an impression that the traditional Indian systems were unscientific and hodgepodge practices. Ayurveda was included in all the other mystical, magical, fake practices and this impression remained in the minds of those generations of Indians and was even carried to the next generation.

In order to protect the science and themselves from the invaders, people practised Ayurveda in the closed environs of their homes undercover and thus secrecy started becoming part of Ayurvedic practices. It was not shared with others and taught as it was not allowed by the administrators or rulers. As a result, it was limited to a few families and this secrecy was later misinterpreted by the practitioners themselves as something necessary for preserving this science and also by society as one of the features of this science itself. This pattern of practice continued for some decades even after  Independence and it is still blamed as one of the main causes for the loss of this knowledge, as many scholars might have died with a vast, amazing repertoire of Ayurveda and folk healing knowledge without transmitting it to anybody. Also such circumstances prevented practitioners from keeping data on any clinical work done on diseases or new herbs which were found in the further evolution of this science. Apart from destruction of the scriptures, this is one of the main reasons why we may not  have research data on Ayurveda. This, however, does not mean that the science is unscientific or unproven.

Ayurveda talks about a healthy mind, body and soul, praying to the higher self, defines all diseases as originating from wrong diet and lifestyle, defines subjectivity, role of influencing factors like astrology, past life, sinful acts. This was considered as an orthodox approach because we are so much influenced by the exactly opposite teachings of current science. But now much research has been done to establish that every disease is indeed a combination of mind and body imbalance; there are many diseases in which the roles of diet and lifestyle have been identified and accepted. The role of strong will power and the influence of faith in healing is also now proved.

 The factual question is : do we need evidence for proving the principles and authenticity of Ayurveda and that too, in the language of current science? Do we need to prove this time-tested science which has sustained itself till now, even after so much loss and difficulty?  Do we need to change the language of Ayurveda or translate its terminology in modern scientific words so that it can be understood ? If we are accepting the approach of evidence based science then, the live practice of Ayurveda for more than thousands of years is in itself an evidence enough to prove the efficacy of this system of medicine.

We have to accept the fundamental language of Ayurveda. Instead of trying to translate its terms  literally, into modern scientific language, we should define the meaning of the terms. Let me explain this through an example. Certain foods and lifestyle cause increase in the Vata dosha which will lead to increase in its qualities of Ruksha (dry), Laghu(light), Sheeta(cold), Khara(rough), Sukshma(penetrating) and Chala(mobile), leading to effects on body tissues like dryness, lightness, stiffness, roughness. Vata energy, being penetrating in nature, can reach deep cellular levels and create more mobility or movement. Now, can any laboratory device or scan machine see this increased Vata dosha? The answer is a negative. Then, how can we identify that Vata increased? By looking for the signs and symptoms of what it has created, as a result of its increase in the body system. These effects will be seen more in the areas where Vata is mainly located. So we will see all its effects, stated previously, in the tissues and related organs, like bones, skin, intestine, nervous tissue etc.  If we consider only bone tissue, then the effect of increased Vata dosha qualities can be identified by lab devices like Xray, MRI, CT Scan in the form of the porosity, degeneration, osteophyte changes, reduced bone density in the bones. This is enough to establish that Vata dosha increase has created lightness, roughness, dryness in the bones which has reached to the deepest cells of the bone tissue ultimately creating depletion of bone tissue, which is nothing but the condition identified as Osteoporosis, Osteopenia or Osteoarthritis.

There is no need to say that Vata or Air and Ether elements have accumulated in the bones because no instrument or parameters or language in modern science is designed to measure or explain this, but we can measure and understand the effects what it has done to the body tissues. This example illustrates how it is not possible to understand certain things in Ayurveda by direct perception, rather by rational thinking and perception. This is what current science doesn’t appreciate because it depends on direct evidence under the microscope and machines for everything. The perception and knowledge of the existence of fire simply through rational extrapolation from the presence of smoke, is a classical example used in the scriptures to understand this methodology of rationality. Albeit sounding very simple, this is the most powerful tool in Ayurveda for understanding the causes of diseases, the pathogenesis and then, to design the treatment protocol. This logical thinking is also used in modern medicine in case of clinical diagnosis and treatment approaches particularly when the picture is complex and there is no clear diagnostic confirmation by any examinations and lab tests.

Ayurveda is the most rational and logical science which needs basic common sense to understand and practise. The efficacy of its fundamental principles does not require any breakthrough research, nor does it need any new language. It has to be explained and understood in its own terminology, using the present language only to understand the definitions and the logic behind it.

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