I’ve been a bit slow with writing these days as three weeks ago I was privileged to be part of a small group who attended the inauguration of a new research institute in India which took all of my time.
You can hear me speak from 7:08 onwards in the following video which explains some background of the event and why it was called into being:
It was worth it. The knowledge and subjects presented were nothing short of astounding. It will probably take me years to absorb and assimilate the learnings and sharing provided.
For me the highlight of the event was the keynote of Dr. Nirlepa who dived deeply into the principles of her clinic “MSVC” — a well established integrated holistic health center, located in the center of Hyderabad.
I’m very happy that she has given permission to share her presentation in full and I thoroughly encourage you to watch the video I posted alongside this article carefully, as there are many subtleties on the journey from health to dis-ease and back which could otherwise be missed.
Following the Mahāsiddha Tradition of India, she explains how the “Law of Truth” governs different aspects of life, the forces that control or manipulate them and how ancient saints and rishis1 were able to tune their minds into both the visible and invisible spectrums of creation.
Considering that the visible world is a combination of 5 elements:
Earth
Water
Fire
Air
Space
— one of the most intriguing questions she addressed was how the invisible world (or spectrum) is the governing principle of these five elements by generating, operating and destroying them accordingly.
Purpose of Life and Yoga
Dr. Nirlepa first goes into explaining the purpose of life according to Vedas2, how this path and the related science of self-realization is linked to Yoga3, what are the respective principles that govern it and why in this aspect Ayurveda4 (as the “science of life”) is assigned a special importance.
She emphasizes:
“Maintaining harmony between body, mind and spirit is crucial to attain higher self as only with a healthy body, mind and a positive spirit to lead it into the self, we can truly get ourselves ready for the yogic quest.” — Dr. Nirlepa
Science of Life and Ayurveda
Ayurveda classifies the aforementioned five elements into 3 vital principles which are called as “Tridoshas”:
Vata: combination of the elements air and space — making it a principle of momentum, or “movement”;
Pitta: fire element — representing the transformative principle, linked to a “metabolic continuous change of state”;
Kapha: combination of the elements water and earth — and the main principle of secretions and thereby “regulation of all principles”.
The Tridoshas at body level are connected to the mind via three qualities called as “Gunas”, they are:
Sattva: “creative principle”, e.g. via new thoughts or emotions — linked to Vata;
Rajas: “directional force”, i.e. the drive of the creative principle put in a specific direction for manifestation, passion and comparison — linked to Pitta;
Tamas: “resistance”, the ability to resist negative influences but also to be ready for positive changes and transformation while manifesting — linked to Kapha.
Every Guna has its own positive and negative qualities and the state of Tridoshas (and with it our constitution) was determined by the state of mind of our parents during conception.
This unique combination of the three doshas is called “Prakruti” which is a highly individual fingerprint of our constitution in both body and mind, similar to our DNA.
What’s Health in Ayurveda?
Good health or “Swastha” is defined with a lot of precision in Ayurveda and goes well beyond the simple absence of disease, which is the norm in most common definitions of “healthcare”.
There are various factors which determine the complete health of our multi-dimensional Being called “Human”, for instance:
The three doshas should be in balance with our individual prakruti;
Sama agni (“fire” element) — should be balanced as the transformative principle;
The seven dhatus are in good health and stable condition;
What needs to be excreted (“mala”), is successfully detoxed, e.g. urine, etc.
Health and wellbeing of our mind is also equally important:
The discipline and self control of our five senses gives happiness to our mind and health to us, plus: in order to get properly into our 6th sense (which is nothing but the mind), we need to balance our five senses first.
All of the above combined is needed for our self-realization.
“sama dosha sama agnishcha
samadhatu mala kriyaaha|
Prasanna atma mana indriyaha
swastha iti abhidheeyate ||”
— Sushruta Samhita5
The Cause and Process of Disease
Any lack of a guna (“quality”) naturally leads to an opposite quality, just as a lack of good gives rise to evil or as lack of light leads to darkness.
Missing certain qualities (in physical, emotion, lifestyle conditions, etc.) subsequently lead to an imbalance.
Imbalances in turn create disharmony (e.g. between body/mind/spirit) from which a so-called “dis-order” arises.
Disorders manifest certain kinds of dysfunctions and ultimately result in what we commonly call as dis-ease.
Essentially what happens is that a naturally balanced flow is disturbed, then accompanied and expressed with symptoms and signs, which are nothing but a misalignment from our highly individual Prakruti.
This dis-alignment is called “Vikruti”.
Just as our Prakruti is unique to us, so is our Vikruti.
Consequently, our “dis-ease” is as individual as we are.
Pulse Diagnosis — “Nadi Pariksha”
As the depth of the dis-alignment cannot be detected from looking at the mere symptoms of a disease alone, the ancient art and science of “Nadi Pariksha”6 comes into play.
With all of us being highly unique both with regards to our self alignment but also our misalignments (“illnesses”), the main and most simple principle in restoring our health therefore is to fill up those qualities which are (or have come to be) lacking.
In order to understand how this works, we have to realize that every cell in our body has an antenna. However there are only two points which are the main receivers for absorbing mind information into the body — “sacs with a fluid” that are connected to the heart and the pineal gland.
These fluids have some peculiar properties: they contain piezoelectric crystals which act as the antenna to process the information from mind to body in the form of biorhythm patterns which in turn can be perceived by nadi reading — more commonly known as “pulse diagnosis”.
There are many details pertaining to this unique art of untangling disease, some are indeed real secrets which Dr. Nirlepa is sharing in her very special presentation shared in the almost two hour and exclusive video above.
I hope you find and take the time to watch it in its entirety as it’s quite rare to get such information from real practitioners of this hidden art and science that takes many years to master.
If you have interest in your own diagnosis and how this could help you to untangle your own “dis-eases”, I’m happy to connect you to Dr. Nirlepa directly.
Meanwhile, if you enjoyed this post, please leave a like, comment, share or if you can afford it, buy the premium subscription for more highlights like this! I’m happy to give away one free premium subscription to a person of your choice (with or without a Christmas message) for every new paid subscriber.
Have a great weekend,
Toby
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This sloka or Sanskrit verse is quoted from one of Ayurveda’s ancient texts, which was written by India’s first surgeon Suśruta.
Research Gate: Nadi Pariksha — An Ancient Ayurvedic Method of Diagnosis.
Untangling Disease?