Ayurveda suggests the suppression of vegangal or vegas (natural urges) like urination, bowel, etc can create imbalance with Vayu, which can cause lead to imbalance of other doshas – pitha and kapha – and can lead up to serious diseases. Equally dangerous is the forced initiation of urination, or defecation. The best way is not to suppress or artificially initiate any natural body process.

Our body takes in food, water and air, which are all divided into two forms – Prasad or nutritional part that is good to the body and Mala or excretory part that is harmful when kept inside the body. Excretion – urination, sweating etc, is a way of expelling malas or impurities from the body. Man can suppress the urge to urinate, also can force the body to urinate – both are dangerous.

Diagnosis of vega related imbalances is the primary aim of all Ayurveda practitioners. They identify the imbalances and suggest a method of balancing the doshas. First thing is purification of body by administering purification techniques. Panchakarma therapy is only for healthy men. Women donÂ’t require panchakarma chikitsa and children and elderly people are not capable of handling the panchakarma procedures.

If the person is unfit for panchakarma, medication, controlled living, food, etc are applied for purification of the body. The next process is to give the body its strength by Rasayana Chikitsa. The preparation of Ayurvedic medicines is according to strict preparation directions to completely avoid any side-effects.

Suppression of natural urges in modern life
Unlike caveman, we all live in a highly sophisticated environment, where we need to think about people who are travelling with us, working with us, attending a meeting with us – in such situations we suppress different natural urges. This was never a problem for people that wandered through forests in search of food and shelter.

Another suppression is observed in the form of altering the menstrual cycle of women. Tablets or injections are available to pre-pone or postpone menstruation. It is never a good option to repeatedly check our natural body system.

It is really a strange thing that international communities do not recognize Ayurveda as a scientific method of treatment. This centuries old treatment method has stood the test of time and still flourishes as the prime method of treatment in different parts of India, especially in Kerala and South India. There are systematic methods to identify diseases, prepare medicines, treatment methods. Surgery is also involved in Ayurveda.

Sushrutha, known as the father of modern plastic surgery lived in India many centuries ago and his method was Ayurveda.

Lack of a concerted effort to gather the traditions spread across Kerala and present them in a knowledgeable way is a reason for the delaying of recognition of Ayurveda by international community.

There needs a concerted effort for experiments, clinical trials, in a scientific manner. People generally and westerners in special are somewhat skeptical about the effectiveness and safety of Ayurveda. They require clinical observation and proof after trials – Ayurvedic methods can pass any tests.

However with this clinical trials, we cant forego the traditional methods of preparation of medicines and preparing the patient to receive the treatment. Here the traditional methods of treatment is the best method.

Millions of people pursue AYurvedic treatment in India. The number of foreigners getting favorable results out of different treatment methods is also on the rise. Careful recording of such treatments is the necessary first step towards passing the clinical trials. This is especially true when it comes to treatment methods that can be taken by millions of people worldwide. However, clinical trials are not possible in all cases. Recording as much of the therapeutic processes is necessary to get Ayurveda recognition it deserves. Recording of all possible therapeutic practices can accumulate towards a common database, which provides the necessary statistics about the effectiveness of specific medicines and practices used in Ayurveda.

Another factor is listing of the component herbs – and possibly the derivates from such plants and their specific influences on human body under different conditions. Large scale research is still pending on different medicinal plants from the forests of Kerala, India. Extension of this research can bring out the medicinal properties of plants that grow naturally in other countries. They too will have medicinal properties – it will probably help in developing Ayurveda specific to different countries other than India.

Kamasutra is the oldest and most comprehensive book on love and sex. Ayurveda is the oldest and complete life science. Both put great emphasis on healthy living. Both consider sex as the physical union of man and woman for the purpose of the creation of future generation. Ayurveda puts emphasis on vajeekarana for every couple.

However there is fundamental difference in the views of Ayurveda and kamasutra on sex. Kamasutra provides as much as 64 main sexual positions. Ayurveda acknowledges only one position – woman bottom and man top. Search for thrill and variations can cause female body to lose natural positioning capabilities.

Sex, according to Ayurveda and according to the Vedas, is a divine process that is responsible for the very existence of human race on the face of earth. Kamasutra, the ancient science of love and love making describes in detail a variety of factors involved in practicing safe and fulfilling sex.

In India, sex was never considered something to shun about. According to Ayurveda, children is an asset. From having intercourse to delivering children and bringing them up with healthy body, mind and imparting in them, the training to see life in positive life and showing them the good way of life is an elaborate process. One noticeable thing about Ayurveda is the relative silence about family planning, contraception methods, or abortion – why destroy the greatest asset one can get? Sal-Santanangal (or children of good qualities, physically, mentally and spiritually) is the ultimate aim of sex.

Vageekarana Chikitsa (Aphrodisiac Treatment)
Aphrodisiac therapy or treatment has a prominent place in Ayurveda. It is part of Vrisha, one anga or branch in ashtanga or eight principle branches of Ayurveda. Removing the imbalances of doshas or tridosha (vata, pitta, kapha) comes before vageekarana chikitsa (aphrodisiac therapy).

Good physical qualities, semen quantity and quality, is the aim of vajeekarana chikitsa.

There is also a list of qualifications for both men and women. The man should be compatible to his woman in physical, mental, and on an astrological basis.

A man shall go to his wife only. Meeting other women is strictly prohibited in Ayurveda. The only place to ejaculate semen is vagina – masturbation and all other forms of unnatural sex are prohibited.

Although Kamasutra suggests 64 different sexual positions, Ayurveda recognizes only the common method –woman bottom and man top. Experimenting on this for bodily pleasure causes woman body to position in different forms, which can cause immediate to long-term faults to woman body and also to the child.

Vageekarana chikitsa or Jaara chikitsa (aphrodisiac therapy) suggests Panchakarma for purification of physiology and semen. Panchakarma is not necessary for women because of physical peculiarities.

Ayurveda suggests physical union of loving couples as the one way to enjoy divine pleasure. Here an assembly of panchendriya (Five Senses – touch, sight, etc.), physical organs, and mind takes place.

Ashtavaidya is an Ayurvedic practitioner who is proficient in all the eight different branches of Ayurvedic treatment. KeralaÂ’s rise as a prominent center for Ayurveda is in a great way indebted to the selfless service of ashtavaidyans. Their service canÂ’t be fully appreciated without mentioning the social situations that prevailed in India and Kerala till less than a century ago.

Racial discrimination was prevalent in this land and the veda or science knowledge was restricted to upper class Brahmins. They were the only vaidyas. A vaidya is a practitioner of Ayurveda or an Ayurvedic physician. It was impurity for the Brahmins to touch or even see people of lower castes. The ashtavaidyans denied this tradition and practiced salya tantra (surgery technique) on people from all castes. Thus ashtavaidyans got their place in their community lowered. Other Brahmins that did poojas at temples didnÂ’t recognize practitioners of vaidya (vaidyans). Thus, marital alliances between Brahmins practicing vaidya and Brahmins that remained pure from touching people of lower castes ceased.

Learning and practicing Ayurveda to practice vaidya caused the vaidyans not pursuing education of Vedas and pooja rituals. However, later this condition changed and now marital alliance is possible between all Namboodiri or Brahmin families.

Vaidyamadam family, a family that traditionally practiced asthavaidya was a bit different and they practiced Vedas and participated in Yagnas and poojas. History suggests that this family was not known for salya thantra (surgery). They give and take women to and from almost all Namboodiri families.

These ashtavaidyas or ashtavaidyans have recorded their treatment methods. Tracing down descendents of Ashtavaidyas is a difficult task today because of the relative indifference of such families with other Brahmin families.

Thaikkattu vaidyar, Kuttancheri, Vaidyamadam, etc are some of the families usually associated with ashtavaidyans.

The term Ayurveda is first mentioned in Sanskrit scripts by Ayurvedic practitioners like Sushruta, Charaka, Kasyap, etc in their Samhitas now known as Sushrutha Samhita, Charaka Samhita, Kasyapa Samhita. Bhela is also another practitioner who mentioned the term Ayurveda.

Ayurveda, in its modern form is believed to have come into existence around 600 BC. The Panchabhoota and Tridosha concepts would have developed from other sciences like numerology, yoga, theology, philosophy, etc.

Ardent lovers, and practitioners of Ayurveda, have written in palm leaves that Ayurveda, as a science of life has no beginning and end. It just passes to the mankind from the cosmic creator of this universe and everything in it – Lord Brahma. Lord Shiva and the Sun God too are related with Ayurveda. The knowledge was later transferred to humans through hermits or sages. These sages (called Rishis), mainly Sage Athreya, Dhanwantary, Didodasa, Kasyapa, etc, instructed their disciples. Kasyapa Samhita explicitly tells that Ayurveda, Ayurvedic medicines, and Ayurvedic treatment methods originated well before the advent of human race.

Diseases, according to Ayurveda affect not only humans, but also all living and nonliving things. The sages have named the diseases affecting different living and non living things. Pakalam affects elephant, abhithapam horses, neelika water, ooshara earth, etc. Only humans can recognize the diseases and take appropriate steps to correct the conditions.

These disciples learned all the eight branches of Ayurveda, called Ashtanga or Asthangahridaya, namely Kaya Chikitsa (physician), Bala, Griha (home treatment – women and children medicine), Urdhwanga, Salya (Surgery), Visha (toxicology), Rasayana, Vageekarana (aphrodisiac) chikitsakal or treatments.

The disciples later practiced these specializations and became experts in their fields. Sushruta is an example. He specialized in Salya Tantra or the technique of surgery. He is now considered the father of plastic surgery. Susrutha also used anesthesia before surgery.

Dravyaguna vignan or medicinal plant science is a section of Ayurveda that deals with medicinal herbs and their properties. Dravya guna vignan provides details about the differing qualities of medicinal herbs with seasons, the right time to collect the herbs, etc.
 
Though dravyaguna vignan is almost exclusive for the knowledge of medicinal herbs, it can also include the knowledge of matter in general. Dravya means matter (everything is made of matter and energy). Dravya guna vignana also includes the knowledge of quality of matter, change of properties while in combination with other materials, etc.

Meanings: Dravya – matter, guna – quality and vignan – knowledge.
Since treatment in Ayurveda is purely herbal, the practitioner needs to identify the exact quality of each herb he collects. The season in which the herbs are grown and harvested determines the quality of the herb.

Ayurveda acharyas recommend the use of fresh herbs. However, it is not practicable in all cases because some annual plants grow only in specific seasons. Here, according to Ayurveda acharyas, one can store the whole plant, or usable plant part (flower, fruit, root, leaves, or whole plant) dried and well preserved for up to one year.

Dravya guna vignan evolved over thousands of years. The accumulation of data from the experiments that spread over thousands of years produced accurate results. The results are reported in concentrated forms in ancient books like Ashtangahridaya, Charaka Samhita, Sushruta Samhita, etc.

Dravya guna vignan also allows the practitioner to choose herbs or herbal combinations that effectively balances the vitiations of doshas, while preventing further imbalances or side effects. Here lies the key to relative absence of side-effects for Ayurvedic medicines. The medicines are used to treat both the disease and the patient. When taken the disease separately, the treatment of a specific imbalance can lead to the imbalance of other parts.

Therefore drayaguna vignan is the most important knowledge an Ayurvedic practitioner must gain before he attempt treating.

Dravyaguna vignan can also be spelt; dravya guna vignan, dravyaguna vigyan, dravyaguna vigjan, dravyaguna vijnan, dravya guna vigyan, dravya guna vijgan, dravya guna vignana, dravya guna vignanam, dravya guna vigjanam, etc.

Overlapping of yoga and Ayurveda is quite visible when one studies the chakra concept, which is the same in both yoga and Ayurveda. In yoga, one studies deeply about seven vital energy chakras located along the spinal cord, while Ayurveda just mentions about the chakras. However, Ayurveda never excludes any other knowledge. One becomes a complete Ayurvedic practitioner or follower only when he/she is able to appreciate other sciences and gain knowledge that is useful to humankind from them. Yoga happens to be one of them, which in turn follows Ayurvedic lifestyle regime in a stricter fashion.

Ayurveda is the oldest known complete medical system. It describes the world (universe) as a continuous stream of interaction energies. The interaction is mainly between the macrocosm (universe) and the microcosm (living things including man). There is a balance in the interaction. The balanced interaction gives humans and balanced mind, body and soul. Then the person is said to be living in harmonious with nature and with optimum health.

The universe is made up of five elements names akash, bhoomi, jal, vayu and agni. These five elements in turn make three humors (doshas) of living bodies – vata, pitta and kapha. Each living thing is a combination of all the three doshas. However in each person one or two doshas dominate. Only in rare cases can you find domination of all the three doshas. A balance in the doshas is essential for the illumination of Ojas, or the essential life energy of human body. According to Ayurveda, every living thing is a mass of constantly evolving energy, with Ojas as its essence or core. An abundance of Ojas means the person is bubbling with health and a deficiency is ill health.

The main centers to locate this energy are the seven major chakras located along the spinal cord. Chakra means a wheel. The energy chakras when healthy will continuously rotate clockwise and anti-clockwise rotation indicated ill health. Each chakra vibrates at specific frequency and supports different parts or functions of the body. There can be different factors that block this energy and bring ailments to body and mind. It also affect the spirituality of the person. Balancing and freeing up the chakras enables the person to attain peak performance in whatever he/she does. The support of energy will be maximum in such a balances state.

The seven Chakras
Yoga and Ayurveda suggests that there are seven different chakras, each with specific physiological and spiritual functions.

Mooladhara (muladhar) or Base Chakra
It is the first among the seven chakras and is located at the base of spinal cord. Basic survival instinct and adrenal functioning are due to the working of this chakra. A weak base/root chakra causes negative viewing of life and increased suicide tendency will be the results. Its color is yellow and shape is a square with four vermilion petals.

Svadhisthana
This is the second chakra located near the genital area and linked to sexuality and reproductive system. It is also linked to love, sexuality, mental composure, and enjoyment of life. Its color is blue and shape is circular with six petals and with a crescent.

Manipur (Manipuraka, Manipura)
The third chakra is located at the navel area, as an inverted red triangle within ten petals of a sunflower. Its color is golden and controls liver, stomach, small intestine and nervous system. Negative energies like anger, frustration etc blocks this chakra and causes hypertension and quick burnouts.

Anahata (Heart Chakra, Hridaya chakra)
This chakra, located at the chest area is associated with heart, immune system, love and compassion. It appears as a six-tailed star circles by 12 petals. Excess energy here can cause heart diseases, asthma, etc. This is regarded as the central chakra and the balancing power of whole body and living system.

Visudha (visuddhi, Throat Chakra)
Visudha is the fifth pranik chakra, located at the throat-neck area as a silver crescent within a ring of 16 radiating golden petals. It controls respiratory system and endocrine system. It also is associated with voice, hearing, and intake of food and water. Singers are blessed with a balanced visudha chakra. Nurturing this chakra by meditations gives peace of mind, pleasant and commanding voice, gentle nature and acceptability as a leader.

Ajna Chakra (Forehead chakra)
Ajna chakra, located at the forehead appears as a white circle circled by two petals. It controls some glands, parts of brain, eye and nose. Mental problems are associated with block of this chakra. Meditating this chakra is very difficult to impossible.

Sahasrara
Sahasrara is the last chakra, appearing as a full moon, above the crown. Controls brain and is related to spirituality and consciousness. Common people rarely identify the effect of this chakra and hence the chakra is not generally identified in different classifications.

The directions of Ayurveda acharyas on food habits appear to be too tough to follow in present conditions.

Appetite, according to Ayurvedic principles is the mechanism of body to tell the brain that the body needs food. Eating food at the right time will automatically create appetite or hunger at the right times – this is the basis. Man needs to take food only two times a day – in the morning and in the evening. The body requires food only after the taken food is digested.

One will not feel appetite when his mind is disturbed – sadness, anger, fear, etc are negative emotions. Food taking with a disturbed mind doesn’t get absorbed by the body. Eating food should be in a pleasant environment, possibly in the presence of family or friends.

Eating the food should be a slow process. Completely chew the food before swallowing. This is needed for good digestion of food. Another thing is not to take cold water with food. A little walk a few minutes after taking food can help in better digestion of the taken food. DonÂ’t exert body immediately after taking food. Another thing is to avoid eating for time pass.

Any food that can affect the balance of any of the three doshas of tridosha can be termed a virudhaharam (virudha aharam, virutha aharam, viruthaaharam) or incompatible food. Certain food items when combined together can create reactions. These reactions can sometimes be harmful to health. Food items that cause such reactions are known as incompatible food.

Food and milk, chicken and ghee, etc are examples of incompatible food combination.

This may not be a serious problem to healthy persons pursuing a continued exercise regimen. However, pregnant women, weak persons, elderly persons and children can be affected by such incompatible combinations. It is necessary to check the nature of food and food combination one takes.

There are also chances for food poisoning. The general symptoms of food poisoning are described in different Ayurvedic texts. Infected meat has blue lines, milk has dark red lines, alcoholic drinks have black and white lines, etc provide quick diagnostic measures of food poisoning.

Excess intake of alcohol can cause serious damages to liver. Too much of sweets and fatty food can affect teeth and can upset stomach. They also affect the health of bones and can cause beauty problems like pimples. Its effect on diabetes is well known to everyone.

The preservatives added to food are also chemicals that can act as poison. Modern researches hint that accumulation of chemicals from such preservatives and additives can even stunt the mental growth of children.

People at the time of origin of Ayurveda, the science of life didn’t have to worry much about baked or fried food items. Modern man eats a lot of bakery products like cake, pastries, drink artificial drinks like colas – all these can cause different problems to digestive system, blood, and bones.

Kalarippayattu is widely practiced in Kerala and in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu, the southern most states of India. It is also believed that ancient Buddhist monks took kalarippayattu lessons from Tamil Nadu. They used the knowledge in the places of their exile and pilgrimage, mainly to protect against wild animals. In their hands, it was transformed to Karate. Aggression and physical harm to others is completely absent in Buddhist philosophy – thus the monks took only a small portion of the knowledge.

Kalari means an arena and payattu means fight. Hence kalarippayattu is a fight at the arena. The master of kalaripayattu is called an ‘asan’ or ‘guru’. Asan is the most common usage. There are different wings in kalarippayattu – empty handed fight, short stick, long stick, small knife, sword and shade, belt sword, are the weapons of aggression and defense.

Kalarippayattu primarily is the method of self-defense, but it also gives enormous benefits to the practitioners. It gives flexibility to body, better immune system, mental alertness, good physique, confidence, and self-control.

There are two distinct schools of Kalarippayattu in Kerala – Vadakkan or Northern style and Thekkan or Southern style. In the northern part, prominence is for weapons and in southern parts, empty handed fights. Vadakkan Kalari depends primarily on full body massaging to attain body flexibility, while southern style practitioners have a wide set of exercises to attain physical flexibility.

Marma concept is unique to Kalarippayattu. According to marma knowledge, there are 108 vital points on human body, which when is attacked with proper force and balance can cause even death. These highly sensitive points are called marmas. Among the 108 marmas, 12 are extremely critical.

An Asan (master of Kalaripayattu) must possess a sound marma knowledge as there are chances that the students may accidentally shock a marma (marmam). The effect of this shock, called thattu can be rectified with a maruthattu, which is the application of a controlled shock in an appropriate manner to neutralize the effect of the first shock.

Marma massaging is a method of massaging the body by giving proper pressure at the marma points. One must observe and work under his Asan for long time before venturing into using the skills on his own. Marma massaging can rectify deformation of bones and injuries like fracture occurred during fighting and/or accidents. Choice of medicated oil depends on the kind of massage the person requires. The medicines are transferred directly to the blood through the skin with this high pressure massaging.

Jivaka (Jeevaka) the main physician that treated Lord Buddha, learned medicine from Athreya Acharya. Upon completion of his medical education, Athreyaacharya gave his disciples a test – bring me the herbs or plants with no medicinal value. All the disciples of Athreya brought some plants to him. Jivaka searched and searched, but could not find any herb without any medicinal value. Dejected, he returned to his master.

“Hey Jivaka, couldn’t you find at least one plant without medicinal properties?” Athreya asked.

Jivaka replied “O master, I failed to pass your test. I searched the whole mountainside, but could not find a herb that has no medicinal powers. In fact I found even the sound of flowing streams, the sunlight, the sight of flowers, the singing of birds, the warmth and pleasant climate all act as medicines under appropriate conditions”

AthreyaÂ’s happiness knew no bounds. He said the medical education of Jivaka is over and he will become the predecessor of Athreya.

This is the core principle behind the lifestyle directed by Ayurveda acharyas. Nothing in this world is without a reason. Even the seemingly insignificant things can have greater influence on your life than you think.

Athreya later taught Jivaka the method of open skull surgery and a prominent figure among  ancient Indian Ayurveda practitioners.