The Remedy for Real Ancient Medicines in the Modern World

Sep 10, 2022

ashwagandha plant in the field

While experts interviewed in America about herbal medicine discuss the variety of effective herbs and the history of medicine in the USA as the history of herbal medicine, they discuss a history of Galen and Hippocrates as the source of medicinal knowledge. This is rarely questioned, and therefore propagated to new audiences without repair, including peoples from countries who know that their medical traditions are much older and much more capable than what the mainstream discusses. They stay quiet because it is easier not to argue. They stay quiet because they are minorities who do not want to be targeted.

In fact, the use of Herbal medicine by humans is described in hundreds of ancient texts that are at least 1000 years old. Archaelogic evidence shows that writings are over 10,000 years old. Among the oldest medical texts are the Charaka Samhita, in which Charaka captured teachings of Agnivesha who was the student of Atreya at least 2500 years ago. In addition, there was a master surgeon in the ancient city of Varanasi/Kashi/Benaras (the same city, different names over 10,000 years) named Sushruta with an amazing text on surgery called Sushruta Samhita that is also at least 2500 years old. Why are they ignored? They have been translated to English. They have been studied by almost a million people. They were taken from ships by force that sailed from India thousands of years ago to the Mediterranean and deposited into the library in Alexandria, Egypt. Scholars traveled from all ancient cultures in Europe and Africa to read these texts, discussing the ancient knowledge of India and trying to decipher texts of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, botany. Medical knowledge from India was also carried by force by Alexander the Greek to Greece where Hippocrates conveniently -- but without evidence of evolution -- suddenly "discovered" the four humors. These 4 humors are suspiciously parallel to Susruta's 4 doshas. Why would it not be probable that he co-opted the knowledge rather than presuming that he discovered it without any evidence in his writings of how he converted from magical notions of greek gods creating disease to humors creating disease?

Both Charaka and Susruta describe the origin and definition of medicines. Medicines are made of 3 substances: plants, animals (land, air and water animals) and/or minerals. These categories are descried in detail in the texts. The cautions, the ways of preparing them for proper use by humans so that they are not toxic, and the uses and combinations, doses and times are all discussed. But modern herbalists seem totally ignorant of these profound discussions and logic, the evidence and the testing.

The definition of a medicine is a substance that removes fear from the patient. To be called a medicine, the substance must heal without creating another disease. To be captured in the medical texts, the substance had to be studied by many observant and competent physicians who unraveled disease and gave reasoning and logic about the use of that substance and how it worked.

Despite all this evidence, there are doctors who blindly question the use of ayurvedic medicines but blindly accept the drug-based pharmaceutical medicines without looking at the hard scientific evidence that shows that drugs kill more people per year than herbal medicines do. Drugs have side effects that can permanently damage a person's body and mind. Drugs have side effects that destroy the brain, liver, kidney and can cause gut problems. But they are systematically ignored, despite all the scientific evidence for the brain-gut connections, the gut microbiome.

The reason for this may be that people are not afraid of dangers that are familiar, such as crossing a busy wide avenue in oncoming traffic where accidents happen regularly, or eating raw meat and fish, or having unprotected sex with a stranger. Yet they are afraid of the unknown. The medical establishment invests a lot of money to tell people through advertisements and subliminal messages placed into cinema and TV and news programs that herbs are unknown, foreign, and unsafe.

The established powers mollify the use of mainstream medicines as being safe and effective with evidence defined as per clinical trials and FDA regulations that are obviously financially-incentivized. Just to file a new drug application to the FDA to get them to consider the substance as a drug will cost USD $1.1 million today. Meanwhile we can get seeds from our neighbor or friend and grow herbs for free and use them as per native knowledge that has worked for thousands of years. The costly process -- that is sometimes falsified or inept due to pressures to capture data and show positive results is believed by western scientists in academia, the NIH, and the FDA, more than they believe 1000s of years of wisdom.

ashwagandha root and powder

While herbs and herbalism is part of every person's life constantly and everyday, we have called it alternative. In fact, through foods, aromas, lotions, and any clothing made with plants that are beneficial to health such as cotton or linen, we have taken things that are native to us for millenia and made them altered from our native ways.

Everyday Ayurveda

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