Aushadha Bhedah - types of therapy

As the previous copmmentaries have suggested, even though a disease has a long history of causes - be they astrology, spirituality, climate, psyche, infection, or a bite by a poisonous insect - in the end, the disease manifests itself on the material level in tissues. Mostly, at such moments the person recognizes a disease through the senses and nervous system. The symptoms are pains, imbalance, or weakening, which means a disrupted health condition. In these cases, when the body is ill, it is clear that some Doshas in the body are overactive.

At the material level, Ayurveda has two healing techniques. The first is Shamana, which is the pacification of the increased Dosha with the help of medicaments (herbs, decoctions, drugs, drinks, food etc.), bringing balance to Doshas and healing. In Ayurveda, this technique called Shaman Kriya, or Shaman healing.

Another type of healing overactive Doshas in the body is to eliminate them from the body with the help of human physiological factors. For example vomiting, purgation (using laxative), enema, massage, sweating etc. This healing is called Shodhana Kriya or Panchakarma.

Sam means balanced, in equilibrium, and sád  means settled in place. When something is samásád,  it is like sweetness in sugar - it is appropriate, it belongs there, it is balanced, not disrupting, not a problem. The content of medicines and procedures is balanced in this way, their curative properties are appropriate to them.

The content of a medicine, its curative properties, is of two types. An antibiotic, for example, has a catabolic effect, but it will not do anything just sitting in the box, it has to enter the body's system and interact with its target. The two curative abilities are Sudhan and Shaman. The ability to calm something involves filling in the gaps - if something is missing it will be supplied until the normal state is achieved - this is Shaman. The requirements for balance have to be met, like when a person is hungry and eats. The grumbling in the stomach will be calmed by eating. If a person is tired out by physical activity, then stopping the activity and resting calms the system. Each medicine or procedure that augments the body in this way, that meets its unmet needs, is Shaman. If bone tissue stops being produced, then the necessary materials have to be supplied so its production can resume balance, or when the agni is low, then it has to be given what it needs to increase. Through our knowledge, we know what is missing where, and that means we are able to provide what is missing. A doctor without this knowledge is just experimenting or gambling with the person's health. For those with this knowledge it is easy to enact a cure. We choose ingredients that will calm the situation and restore balance. 

Shodhan is the second type of medicine, and it is cleansing, it does not add something to the system, but removes something unwanted from the system. In Ayurveda the conditions that are addressed are not the same as the names commonly shared for diseases by the general public, because those commonly used names involve physical symptoms only. In Ayurveda, it is deviation at the level of agni, gunas and substances that is addressed. This means that the approach of Ayurveda and that of modern medicine are diametrically opposed to each other. If we are unable to develop the capacity to work with the gunas then there is no point in attempting to practice Ayurveda. We must change our perspective to see beyond the material level. We tend to be very superficial and unable to infer what is going on beyond our immediate sensory input. 

The concept of reaching agreement, balance among elements, is important to understanding Shaman. Reaching a settlement is important. To understand Shodhan, we should think of situations where we are showing somebody the door, kicking them out. This is what happens when agreement cannot be reached. If something is toxic, we throw it away. If people are too attached to what is causing their problem, there is no point in even speaking with them about getting rid of it. When we want things to be clean, we have to throw things away. Naiveté, the inability to recognize and then get rid of something toxic, is one of our biggest unresolved problems, there is a lot of suffering due to this.

It is very important to understand that the doshas are disruptions of the gunas and their agnis. There is a certain order and process to the disruption happening, and the cure for this takes all of it into account. In Ayurveda, the best medicine goes exactly to the place where the disruption begins. We have to recognize what is not functioning.This will be based on our knowledge. People do not value knowledge today, though.