What is Ayurveda?

The word 'ayurveda' comes from Sanskrit and is composed from the words 'ayu', which translate into 'life' and 'veda', meaning knowledge/wisdom. So Ayurveda literally means 'knowledge of life'.

"Ayurveda is that which deals with good and bad, happy and unhappy life, that which increases and does not increase this, measure and nature. Ayus means the union of body, sense organs, mind and self. The Vedic scholars consider the Veda of that Ayus as the most virtuous. Mind, self, body. These three form a tripod on which the living word stands. That is Purusha, the person, feeling and perceiving and place of this Veda, the Ayurveda. Only for him was this Veda brought to life." - Charaka, Chapter 1 Vers. 41,43,46,47

What is this knowledge?

The main focus of Ayurveda is how does man, tortured by disease and suffering, becomes Man again. To realise we are not the body, we are not the mind. For Atman (the soul) to realise it was never actually separate from Brahman (God). To heal is simply a process of remembering we are already whole.

The ancient Ayurvedic texts describe how we get to and maintain 'swastha', meaning health. The literal translation of 'swastha' is: being centred in oneself. Understanding this we realise the real reason or goal of life. Simply to be yourself!

In what ways we do this and to understand how we got away from this, Ayurveda describes tons of ways to work with nature, seasons, rituals, recipes, food, symptoms, tools, plants, medicine, tinctures, yoga, meditation, breathwork and so much more, which I will all talk about on my website!

Where does this knowledge come from?

The origin of Ayurveda is shrouded in myths and legends. The knowledge derives directly from the Gods and is received and written down by the great Rishis (seers). Brahma, the Creator, is seen as the ultimate originator of Ayurveda. He passes the knowledge to Prajapati, who passes it on to the Ashwin Brothers. They were the doctors of the Gods and could take any form. The knowledge is then passed to Indra, the king of the Gods, who shares it with Bharadwaja to finally reach the first 'real' doctor Atreya in around 800 B.C.

Atreya had six student, who each wrote their own compendium, of which only the Agnivesa was preserved. Later this work was refined and improved by Charaka and again by Dridhabala to become the work we now know as Charaka Samhita, the most known and studied text of ancient Indian medicine.

Besides Bharadwaja, Indra also passed the knowledge to Dhanvantari, who had eight students. Of which one was Shushruta. He wrote the second most important foundational works of Ayurveda: the Shushruta Samhita.

The Charaka Samhita was the first book to systemise the medical information, found in the Veda's, as well as research its effectivity. In the book we find lots of information about the preparations of plant medicines, as well as when and where to harvest, how to prepare and use them. The Shurhuta Samhita focusses on surgery and anatomy and was the first one to mention the marma-points (important for Ayurvedic Massage).