The Origin of Ayurveda

According to ancient Hindu scriptures, the Creator of the Universe is Brahma.
He is The Supreme of All.

The very first living being that Brahma created was called Prajapati.
Prajapati acquired a lot of knowledge and wisdom from Brahma, including knowledge of Ayurveda.

This knowledge of Ayurveda was passed on to Ashwin Kumar, who was the physician of the Gods and Goddesses.
Among the Gods and Goddesses, one of them, Indra, acquired this knowledge from Ashwin Kumar.

It is quite evident from the above details that the knowledge of Ayurveda was confined to the Divine world, absolutely out of reach of ordinary mortals on Earth.

The inevitable started happening. Human beings on Earth began suffering from diseases. The sufferings and the misery kept on increasing with time.
There was one mortal, named Bhardwaj, who was an astronaut. He became very disturbed and decided to do something. He went to Devalok (the Divine World), met Indra and requested for a solution.

Indra revealed that diseases arise from the internal imbalances within the body. In the absence of internal imbalances, the immune system becomes extremely strong. There is a saying that, if the immune system is strong enough, one can even digest poison, just like Lord Shiva did.

Indra advised Bhardwaj to find out the cause of the imbalances, locate the symptoms and then develop the remedy.
He asked Bhardwaj to go back to Earth and spread and develop the knowledge of Ayurveda, so that a healthy being remained in good health and those who are not in good health, can regain their health.

Panchamahabhoota

Panchamahabhoota are the five elements in a living being’s body, whose proper balance is absolutely essential for good health.
The five elements are :

          * Mati (Earth)
          * Pani (Water)
          * Agni (Fire)
          * Vaayu (Air) and
          * Akash (Space)

The coordinated action of these five elements controls the internal glands, body parts and their functions are regulated and the dormant powers of the body are awakened.

Furthermore,
Mati + Pani = Kapha (the cold, watery and heavy humor of a living body)
Agni = Pitta (the hot humor of a living body signifying energy)
Vaayu + Akash = Vaayu (this humor represents emptiness and motion)

There should be a balance between the above three fundamental bodily humors for the existence of good health.

Before we begin learning about Ayurveda, we have to be aware of certain facts.

At the beginning of creation, there were no medicines and no doctors. Man and animal had to fend for themselves. Whenever they used to fall sick, they relied on the herbs and plants around them. There was nobody to teach them which herb or plant rectified which disease.

Then how did they gain this knowledge?

We must have observed at some time or other that an animal also relies on certain herbs and plants when it is suffering from certain diseases.

How did it gain this knowledge? An animal is not as intelligent as a man, but still somehow it acquired this knowledge from some mysterious source.

This source is DIVINE. Divine powers guided man and animal towards this knowledge, which helped them survive.

Slowly and gradually, this knowledge kept on developing and was passed down the ages and through many generations, until finally it was documented by an ancient Indian sage and was termed as ‘Ayurveda’, which means The Science of Life.

Ayurveda is not something which was discovered by somebody all of a sudden, but rather, this divine knowledge kept on growing and developing through the ages, all by itself with the help of divine guidance and finally it was documented.

We are just not aware of what bounties Mother Nature has provided us with. It has provided everything that a living being needs to survive and prosper.

The awareness of what Nature has in store for us, is Divine Knowledge.

This Divine Knowledge is Ayurveda.