Abstract –
“Ayurved is the art of daily living in harmony with the laws of nature” – Vasant Lad. Ayurved is really great science. Even though Ayurved is oldest life science, its facts are applicable forever. In today’s era, everyone wants to get well. But unfortunately most of us give importance to physical fitness and well looking. But according to Ayurved, only physical wellness is not enough for total wellbeing. I here, tried to focus on everything that is related to proper wellness by correlating sutras of various Ayurvedic literatures.
Detail –
Namami Dhanvantarim adi devam |
Namami mam Mahadevay ||
Namami mam Acharyaha |
Namami mam shastram Ayurveday ||
In Ayurved, every topic or concept begins with Mangalacharan (Prayer to god). Thus we started this essay topic with above Mangalacharan. Before going to wellness concept, let’s focus on what is Ayurved.
Hitahitam sukhm dukham ayuhu tasya hitahitam |
Manm ch tasya yatra uktam Ayurved sa ucchyate || Cha. Su. 1/41
In simple words,
Ayusya yo vedha sa ayurvedha |
All the aspects of life are considered in Ayurved like good things and bad things for life etc. That makes Ayurved different and so special. In Ayurved, every word has some hidden meaning. We often say that, Ayurved is “the science of life”.
Now focus on life (ayu), what is life?
Sharirindriyasatvaatma sanyog dhari jivitam |
Nittyagshch anubandhshcha paryayi ayuhu uchyate || Cha. Su. 1/42
In simple words, combination of body, senses, mind and soul is known as life. And science of such life is known as Ayurved. Thus Ayurved covers all the aspects of body senses mind and soul, there hita, ahita, sukha, dukha and also swasthya, vikar, chikitsa, apunarbhav, and moksh.
Ayurved has aim as
Prayojanam ch asya swasthasya swasth rakshanam aturasya vikar parimokhan ch | Cha. SU. 30/26
Maintaining perfect health of an individual and to treat disease of patients are the aims of Ayurved. Wellness is the first aim of Ayurved. Now what is perfect wellness (swasthya) according to Ayurved?
Samdosha samagnischa samdhatu mal kriya |
Prassan atmendriyaman ha swastha iti abhidhiyate || Su. Su. 15/41
We saw that life is a combination of body, senses, mind and soul. So perfect wellness covers wellness of all this things. In above Shloka, first line is about body’s health and second line is about health of mind senses and soul.
We know, the basic factors of Sharir are Dosha, Dhatu, And Mal.(Su. Su. 15/3) So good quality and quantity of these factors are essential along with good Agni. Agni is essential for maintaining health of these all factors.
But only physical fitness is not enough for perfect health. Wellness of other factors, soul and mind is also necessary. Ayurved gives same importance to body as well as mind senses and soul.
There are many literatures in Ayurved. Some of them are known as Samhita and some are yog shastra. These both Samhita and Yog sashtra are parallel sciences which does not crosses each other but has different aim, bases and parameters. They help each other to get perfect wellness in an individual.
This samhita has aim as
Dhatusamya kriya ch ukta tantrasya asya prayojanam | Cha. Chi. 1/53
These Samhita focuses on Dhatu samya.
Sharir dharnat dhatva ha |
In Ayurved, when any object that helps in sharir dharan is known as dhatu. When dosh and mal are in good quality and quantity, they also helps in sharir dharan. So Samhita uses only one word Dhatu for all the things in body (dosha, saptadhatu, mal). Means the main aim of Samhita is to make body healthy. Samhita also has some references for mind and soul wellness like Naishthiki Chikitsa, Dhi Dhariya Atma aadi Vidnyan etc.
And in yog shastra, mind senses and soul are mainly focused rather than the body.
Yog ha chitta vrutti nirodh ha | Pa. Yo. Da 1/2
When we apply these both, we can make an individual truly healthy, we can make perfect wellness community, city, and country.
But why such perfect wellness is important? Because,
Dharma artha kaam mokshanam arogyam mulam uttamam | Cha. Su 1/15
For everything you wanted to achieve in life needs proper wellness and span of life is also depended on health of an individual.
In simple words
Body is like hard object.
Mind is like water.
And soul is like sky.
To clean and stabilize hard object is easy.
To clean and stabilize water is hard.
And to clean and stabilize sky is harder.
In same way, to get wellness in body is easier than to get wellness in mind and soul.
Let’s go step by step.
First is body’s wellness.
Because it is basic step for all over wellness. Without body’s wellness we can’t get proper wellness in mind and soul
Samhita helps us to get body’s wellness easily through its various tips like dincharya rutucharya etc. Samhita has separate branch known as rasayan chikitsa for the same.
But due to busy and fast life schedule, it is harder to follow every tips and tricks of Ayurved. Also the etiological factors are changed like pollution, fast food etc. so making physical wellness with such factors is really hard, but not impossible.
Samhita also has different treatment therapies for treatment of various disorders. Medicines, Regimen, and Therapies help us to do Apunarbhav Chikitsa.
Samhita also has some references for mind wellness like for mind disorders dhi dhairya atmadi vidnyan is best.
But detail description of this atmadi vidnyan is found in Yog Sashtra.
After treating the disorder and getting body’s wellness we can move further.
To get wellness in mind senses and soul.
Yog Shastra have different literatures to get wellness but the most famous is patanjali’s ashtang yog as follows

For a person who is busy in daily life schedule, it is very hard to follow this all. But we can change our life schedule without affecting routine schedule as follow,
1) In Dincharya, early wakeup, self-massage to feet, head and shankh area, exercises, nasya can be done by every individual. We use sweet paste to brush our teeth. So gargle with bitter or astringent decoction of ayurvedic dantadhavan churnas is useful after brushing with normal paste.
2) Panchkarma therapies are very useful to reduce all dosha. For proper physical fitness any one can take panchkarma according to season and prakruti.
3) Diet according to Prakruti.
4) Proper fasting according to prakruti, vay, bal, kaal etc for maintenance of Agni.
5) Rasayan Kalpa – like Chyavanprash, Rutu Haritaki etc.
6) For proper mind health anyone can do Asan, Pranayam, Meditation etc. This is easy to do in daily life without affecting routine schedule.
Mind and body lives together (Ashray-Ashrayi). So any defect in mind results in body’s weakness and vice versa. So proper wellness, physical health as well as mental health are important together.
Someone said truly “Ayurved not only cures the disease, but also heals mentally and nourishes spiritually. So lastly, I just want say that “Believe Ayurved & starts to be-live with Ayurved”. Thank You.
Bibilography –
1) Charak Samhita, Vd. Yadav ji Trikam ji, Chaukhamba Publication, (Page number –6, 8, 14, 187)
2) Sushrut Samhita, Vd. Yadav ji Trikam ji, Chaukhamba Publication, (Page number – 67, 75)
3) Ashtang Hruday, Vd. Yadav ji Trikam ji, Chaukhamba Publication, (Page number – 25, 26, 27)
4) Sampurna Swasthavritta Vidnyan, Vd. Vijay Patrikar