The Great Astrophysicist Carl Sagan said :-
The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still.
- Carl Sagan, Famous Astrophysicist.
So very true !!! This remarkable observation by the Eminent Astrophysicist Carl Sagan depicts a great fundamental truth about the precision of the Great Ancient Hindu System of Knowledge - The Profound Vedas. A realistic scientific researcher shall never fail to acknowledge the correctness of this system. It may come as a great surprise to the learned reader, that many a modern day inventions, which we accredit to our age, are found to be described in detail in THE VEDAS.
Origin and Emergence of Ayurveda :
By P. Nil
Today I shall elaborate on some insights about the Emergence of Ayurveda. It's definitely an interesting topic to disscuss. Many a hypothetical theories are continuously emerging and are subdued by newer ones, each one either supporting or conflicting the earlier. The rational school of thought supports a hypothesis that Ayurveda is eternal.
Let's see whether this is merely a hypothesis or it holds some weight. The above quoted observation by Carl Sagan helps to solve this issue to quite a great extent. It clearly states that Hinduism is the only religion on the Earth, which mentions to the period elapsed since The Big Bang, which fully corresponds to the modern day scientific findings, with a measure of exactness which is beyond any doubt.
The Ancient Hindu Scriptures are known to give exact distance between The Sun and Earth. There are instances describing Mars and Moon as the Sons of The Earth. We know very well today that Moon is the natural satellite of Earth, and that, Mars may well have been created by the fragmentation of Earth.
There are found technical designs and technological descriptions of means of air travel ( aircrafts) like "The Pushpak Yaan."
Atomic structure wasn't unknown to the Ancient Hindus which is evident in descriptions found in The Vedas. The design of the pious Shiv Lingam exactly matches the design of modern day nuclear reactors.
Some archaeological excavations at the ancient war sites in India have unearthed skeletons with unbelievably higher amount of radioactivity ( owing to the alleged use of nuclear war heads in the times bygone). see here
We shouldn't be surprised when it is said " Quantum Physics came from the Vedas " Schrödinger, Einstein and Tesla were all Vedantists. ( see here )
It is evident that the Ancient Hindus were highly advanced a race with regards to scientific and technological developments. All the Hindu Scriptures including The Vedas and The Upanishads are none other than the Scientific Texts and Scientific Journals of the Ancient Hindus. Ayurveda is one of the many branches of Knowledge, which is intricately woven into the Profound System of Vedas. Hence It becomes utmost necessary to check into this system of Knowledge, to determine the age of Ayurveda.
But unfortunately, terminologies used therein, is beyond our capacity of complete correct comprehension due to our illiteracy of Sanskrit in its purest form, which itself is the reason of refutation of the texts as evidence by the scientific society at large.
Ayurveda - The Eternal System of Medicine :
To correctly interpret and understand the eternal nature of Ayurveda, we shall have to analyze and study the eternal nature of The Profound Vedas, Ayurveda being its indispensable part. It is clearly mentioned in The Vedas that they aren't the creation of any human, but infact, are handed down to the humanity by the Creator, who is, by very nature Eternal.
The eternalness of the Creator is accepted even by the modern scientific world, and described in a classical fashion in The Vedas. The modern scientific world attributes all creation to The All-Pervading All-Consummating Cosmic Energy, known by the term ' Parabramha '. With the objective of analyzing the nature of The Vedas, we shall discuss in brief, the eternal nature of The Parabramha / The All-Pervading All-Consummating Cosmic Energy. Let's see what The Profound Vedas has to say in this context.
In my earlier post Ayurveda - The Science of Life we had agreed upon that :
' For every system of Knowledge, there are a independent set of guidelines, and the set of guidelines for one system rarely applies to the other. If done so, it is bound to produce erroneous results.'
-- Ayurveda - The Boon Modern World by Dr. N. R. Phade ( see here )
For the correct understanding of the Hindu Scriptures it is but necessary that we apply the guidelines of that system itself and none other to obtain a correct, error-free picture. According to The Profound Vedas The Cosmic Energy is the cause of all creation. Modern day science also acknowledge the above stated notion.In the Hindu Scriptures the Cosmic Energy is termed ' Parabramha' and its different attributes are described in a unique classical way, the correct understanding of which, shall facilitate to answer our basic query.
We all are well aware that the Cosmic Energy has three basic attributes, namely :
a) Generation or creation - The cosmic energy is the Creator of all things. This attribute is prefixed as 'Bramha' in the Hindu Scriptures. Bramha is the Creator who creates all that is created and experienced as being created.
b) Sustenance - The cosmic energy is provider for the sustenance of all that is created. This attribute is prefixed as ' Vishnu ' in the Hindu Scriptures. Vishnu is the provider of all things created and maintains the state of all that is created.
c) Consummation, degeneration or decay - The withdrawal of ( or the application of negative coefficient of ) generating attribute of the cosmic energy causes a process of degeneration or decay. This is prefixed as ' Shiva ' in the Hindu Scriptures. Shiva is the Consummator of all that is created.
A question may arise here whether it was necessary to thus personify the gross term - Cosmic Energy. It is well known that the human intellect is capable to analyze and grasp personified terms better as compared to grosser ones. The personification of the gross terms used in The Vedas has, in fact, helped the mankind to have a deeper understanding of all the issues dealt with therein.
The Eternal Nature of Cosmic Energy :
The Cosmic Energy ( Bramha ) is the Creator, The Cosmic Energy ( Vishnu ) is the one who provides sustenance and The Cosmic Energy ( Shiva) is the one who Consummates. These attributes of the cosmic energy are all-pervading, all-evident. The modern science also, thereby declares the Cosmic Energy to be eternal.
I would like to draw the attention of my learned reader to the famous quote of Albert Einstein. He very correctly described the nature of energy is his classical words :
Energy is neither created nor destroyed ; It only changes its form.
The Cosmic Energy is the sum-up of all the energy distributed in different locations of the universe, involved in / liberated from numerous actions and reactions incessantly taking place everywhere. The Vedas are the first documented evidence of this above stated fact. According to The Vedas, The Creator is beyond all life and death. He is omnipotent, omnipresent and all-conscious. He is beyond all creation yet pervades all creation.
The description of ' Vishwaroop MahaVishnu ' found in The Vedas, is the first ever symbolic, personified discription of the wonderfull phenomenon of the creation, sustenance and consummation of the universe by the Eternal Cosmic Power. It is the first ever rational scientific illustration model, presented by The Vedas to the mankind, with a definite purpose to explain all the laws of The Infinite Energy. It gives us a clear-cut presentation of the above stated law ' Energy is neither created nor destroyed '. By Dr. N. R. Phade -- THE VEDAS - PERSONIFIED SYMBOLISM OF ADVANCED SCIENCES.
It is highly remarkable how very well-versed the Ancient Hindus were, with respect to Science and Technology, where-as we, in our age, are just stumbling in our child-like efforts to walk down this spectacular corridor ; yet claiming ourselves to be much more advanced and developed as compared to the Ancient Hindus.
All said and done, it is a undaunted truth that the Ancient texts of The Vedas have much more in store than the inquisitive human intellect can imagine of, waiting to be explored and accepted, which shall be impossible without the application of correct guidelines of study befitting those texts. Unfortunate enough, the modern scientific societiety is yet to accept this fundamental truth, and in a process to apply modern day terminologies to study ( The Vedas ), are at a great loss in their endeavour to unearth the infinite treasures of knowledge hidden in the Profound Vedas.
Emergence - The Vedic View :
As seen earlier, Lord Bramha is The Personified Aspect of the Creation Attribute of the Cosmic Energy.
According to The Vedas, Lord Bramha created seven sages ' The Sapta Rushis' at the beginning of the process of creation. One of them namely Sage Atri The Wise, was handed over the Texts of Ayurveda by the Creator. This finds its mention in The Charak Samhita and The Shushrut Samhita too. The Charak Samhita is the oldest text of Ayurveda in existence today, dated atleast 7000 BCe, which has been proven with the help of astronomical calculations.
Lets contemplate a bit on the above. The Charak Samhita is a very well documented exhaustive, systematic and detailed study of Ayurveda. For any Branch of Science to be documented with such precision, it must definitely reach to its fullest developed form, which isn't at all a single lifetime's work. We know for sure, that the process of development of any branch of knowledge takes ages altogether.
With this view, when we analyze The Charak Samhita, it becomes crystal-clear, that Ayurveda had come a long way before it was thus documented by Rushi Charak The Wise. This provides us the proper insight of the age of Ayurveda at the time of Rushi Charak.
It may be argued here that the process of handing over the texts of Ayurveda by the Creator himself to Rushi Atri seems mystical. I would like to draw the attention of the learned reader to an earlier point in this discussion : To facilitate the better understand of gross terms, they are personified in The Vedas.
Thinking on these lines and analyzing the issue of the process of handing over the texts by the Creator, it becomes apparently clear that all the Knowledge of Ayurveda dawned upon Rushi Atri The Wise. If it seems to good to be true, I would like to hint to some occurrences below :
a) Did Newton create gravity ?
b) Did Albert Einstein create all the energies prevalent in the universe, so that it follows the laws dictated by his great self ?
There would be numerous such examples to point out.Neither Newton created gravity nor Albert Einstein the energies. These were always in existence in the universe. It was only that the fundamentals of these, dawned upon their highly intellectual brains just as the fundamentals of Ayurveda dawned upon Rushi Atri, wherein Ayurveda was always in existence in the universe.
Thereby we shall conclude the matter thus : Ayurveda is an Eternal Science always in existence in the universe, only to be unfolded by the intellectual brains for the benefits of the mankind.
An important question haunts my brain at this juncture :
Would it be an act of Wisdom to set aside and ignore such a Great Science that Ayurveda is, just on the basis of a fictitious argument that, the Origin of Ayurveda is mythological, thereby sacrificing its benovelant uses to the mankind ( as is being done by the seers of modern day medicine ) ?
This is a question which, I would leave to the best judgment of my learned intellectual reader.
P. Nil
( Most of this essay contains excerpts from the book AYURVEDA - THE BOON TO MODERN WORLD by Dr. N. R. Phade )
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P. Nil is a practicing doctor, attending patients suffering from all major diseases, with an immense experience in manufacturing process of Ayurvedic Medicines.
