Spiritual & philosophical background for Ayurveda:

• There is a fundamental truth or reality, a state of pure consciousness or pure awareness, that is beyond word and thought, in which there is peace, bliss, compassion and liberation.

• Suffering or unhappiness in life caused by the ego or principle of selfishness. The ego sets in motion a stream of action or karma, which ties us to a process of rebirth or transmigration in which is repeated sorrow and ignorance.

• To eradicate this suffering, it is necessary to negate the ego and silence the mind, as the ego is a function of the mind in its state of disturbance. This involves going beyond fear, desire and anger, the emotions that keep the mind agitated.

• For this end, certain values must be followed like truthfulness, humility and non‑violence. The main practice in order to reach the state of pure consciousness is yoga and meditation.

• A disturbance or imbalance of the Doshas in the body contributes to this disturbance of the mind and so, harmonizing the body can contribute to this process of liberation.

The historical development of Ayurveda

Ancient Period – 4000 to 500 BCE

New archaeological developments indicate a continuity of civilization in India going back to 7000 BCE (Merhgarh and also Kurukshetra). From an early period cattle rearing and agriculture arose, gradually developing into the great cities of the Indus or Sarasvati civilization (c. 3500-1900 BCE), like Harappa, Mohenjodaro and Dholavira. While older historical accounts believed that an Aryan invasion put an end to this great culture, this has now been disproved and no archaeological evidence has been found to prove it.

The Indus culture was centered on the Sarasvati river of Vedic fame on which the great majority of the archaeological sites are located. The Sarasvati river flowed east of the Indus and roughly parallel to it. The drying up of the river around 1900 BCE brought about the abandonment of this Vedic culture and a relocation of the center of civilization in India east to the Ganga. Ayurveda is rooted in the culture of the Indus or Sarasvati era, which already showed a high development of knowledge and culture. It continued to develop through the classical civilization of India up to the present day.

According to many great yogis, Ayurveda derived originally from the Rig Veda at the dawn of human history after the ending of the last Ice Age some ten thousand years ago. It is part of the perennial wisdom of humanity as passed down by the Himalayan rishis or seers. The seers were often doctors and medicine was held in high regard in Vedic culture. Medicine was part of all early cultures as it is the most basic form of social caring.

The Rig Veda (c. 3000 BCE) itself contains the three main Ayurvedic powers as Indra (Prana or Vata), Agni (Pitta) and Soma (Kapha). It speaks of healing herbs and mantras. The Vedic ritual involves making liquid offerings (Soma) into fire (Agni) in order to generate energy or vitality (Indra). The Yajur Veda introduces specific rituals, including for providing complete health and longevity. The Sama Veda introduces music, which also aims at healing and harmonizing body and mind. The Atharva Veda, a later text (c. 2000 BCE), adds specific mantras to various plants for curing diseases and outlines the use of gems and amulets.

Classical Period of Ayurveda – 500 BCE-1000 CE

By the time of the Buddha (c. 500 BCE) Ayurveda was already an ancient form of healing with a long history and much sophistication. Ayurveda spread throughout India as part of its classical culture. Ayurvedic influences reached as far west as Greece, with traditional Greek medicine following a similar model of the biological humors as in the medicine of Hippocrates.

Medieval Period – 1000-1900

Ayurveda declined after 1000 CE, when invaders from the Middle East conquered India, and destroyed many libraries and colleges that were centers of Ayurveda along with other systems of learning, including numerous temples that were also centers of learning. Ayurveda suffered further under British rule after 1750. The British tried to suppress it, closing all the Ayurvedic colleges in the country, and shutting down India’s traditional educational system that was rooted in Sanskrit. Ayurveda survived in the form of special guru-disciple relationships and as private training and smaller schools. But Ayurveda was looked upon as primitive and unsophisticated by the British educated elite.

Modern Period

Since the independence of India in 1947, Ayurveda has gradually but steadily regained influence, though it remains poorly funded. There are over a hundred Ayurvedic schools throughout India. Though most are small having only a few hundred students, several are large and sophisticated. Many Ayurvedic companies and herb farms also exist, with Ayurvedic products found in stores and pharmacies throughout the country.

Over the last thirty years, Ayurveda has become gradually introduced into the Western world, particularly through various yogic and spiritual groups already present. Ayurveda is now available as an alternative form of healing in Europe, Australia, South America, and North America. In its adaptation to the west, Ayurveda is returning to a naturopathic form and is becoming reconnected to its spiritual background. It is being taught once more along with yoga, which is already widely known throughout the world. Polarity therapy also uses much of Ayurveda in its principles.

Samkhya is the underlying philosophy of the classical system of Yoga.

It is one of the six classical schools of Indian philosophy. The Buddha is said to have studied with two Samkhya teachers and his system of the five elements and five skandhas (personality aggregates) has much in common with it. Many Yoga students will be familiar with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali this follows the Samkhya philosophy.

In the Samkhya system, twenty-four different cosmic principles (tattvas) are recognised:

1.    Prakriti/ Primordial Nature    

Prakriti is the basic substance of the universe, both gross and subtle. She is essentially the capacity for experience by the mind, not merely of visible objects in the outer world. She contains the prime attributes behind all things as forms of perception. Prakriti means literally “the first power of action”. She consists of the three gunas of sattva, rajas and tamas, the qualities of harmony, action and resistance that we will explore in the next section.. Prakriti is the essence of all observable qualities and energies.

2. Mahat/ Cosmic Intelligence

Mahat literally means “the great” and refers to the great principles behind life. In the Vedic system, all manifestation occurs through an underlying organic cosmic intelligence. In it are contained all the laws and principles the manifestation process must follow. Mahat is the Divine Mind. Through Mahat space, time, the Divine Word and the seeds of differentiation occur. In the individual, Mahat becomes “Buddhi,” the power of intelligence through which we discern truth from falsehood, right from wrong, the eternal from the transient. Mahat therefore is like the Creator or God, Ishvara, and the Buddhis are like the individual souls.

3.    Ahamkara/ Ego

All manifestation is the process of differentiation. Creation works through various separate entities or individual identities which are the basis for the ego. “Ahamkara” means literally “the I-fabrication”, as the ego is a process, not an intrinsic reality. It is a series of divisive thoughts but not a real separate entity that exists in itself. It is a necessary power of division inherent in nature, a stage in evolution, but does not represent the underlying truth or identity of creatures.

Under the point focus of the ego the basic qualities of Nature are able to diversify as the three groups of five listed below, the senses, organs of action and the five elements.

4. Manas/ Conditioned Mind

“Manas” (from the root “man,” to form) is the principle of emotion and imagination. It connects us to the outer world through the senses. All manifestation works through various individual or conditioned mentalities or consciousness. Ego automatically projects mind. Even the atom has a mind. There must be an underlying mind to allow for coordination of activity and energy even at an inorganic level.

5–9. The Five Tanmatras

These are the root energies of sound, touch, sight, taste and smell. Such prime energies are necessary to allow for the coordination of the sense organs with the sense objects. They are emitted on a subtle level by all things in the world.

The Tanmatras are named after their sensory qualities:

1. Shabda Tanmatra - Tanmatra of Sound

2. Sparsha Tanmatra - Tanmatra of Touch

3. Rupa Tanmatra - Tanmatra of Sight

4. Rasa Tanmatra - Tanmatra of Taste

5. Gandha Tanmatra - Tanmatra of Smell

10–14. The Five Sense Organs (Pancha Jnanendriyani)

These are the potentials for mental experience of the outer world and are latent in all mentalities. They become differentiated and sensitised through the process of evolution. They are:

1. Ears - Organ of Sound - Ether

2. Skin - Organ of Touch - Air

3. Eyes - Organ of Sight - Fire

4. Tongue - Organ of Taste - Water

5. Nose - Organ of Smell - Earth

Subtle or inner forms of these organs also exist beyond the limitations of the physical body and their action gives extrasensory perception (ESP). The sense organs or organs of knowledge are receptive only, not expressive. Their activity is through the corresponding organs of action.

15–19. The Five Organs Of Action (Pancha Karmendriyani)

These are the five organs of action that correspond to the five sense organs and five elements. They are:

1. Mouth - Expression - Ether - Sound

2. Hands - Grasping - Air - Touch

3. Feet - Motion - Fire - Sight

4. Urinogenital - Emission - Water - Taste

5. Anus - Elimination - Earth - Smell

The five organs of action are essentially the manifestation of ideas, like moving and grasping. The physical organs are just structures to allow for these ideas of action to occur. The body is a vehicle specifically designed to allow for certain actions to be accomplished, to allow for the mind to gain experience.

20–24. The Five Great Elements (Pancha Mahabhutani)

These are earth, water, fire, air and ether, which represent the solid, liquid, radiant, gaseous and etheric forms of matter that make up the outer world of experience, including the physical body. The sense organs and organs of action work upon them in receptive and active roles.

These elements work on both gross and subtle levels and it is only their gross forms that we experience in physical matter. The subtle elements or Tanmatras work in the mind and in the Dream State.

The science of the five elements is probably the most important factor in Ayurveda and all other forms of ancient science like astrology and alchemy.

1. EARTH manifests the idea of solidity or stability, giving resistance in action.

2. WATER manifests the idea of liquidity or flowing motion, allowing for life.

3. FIRE manifests the idea of light, allowing for perception and for movement from place to place.

4. AIR manifests the idea of subtle movement, manifesting ideas of direction, velocity and change and giving the basis for thought.

5. ETHER manifests the idea of connection allowing for interchange between all material mediums, communication and self‑expression.

Or, to put it in another way, ether manifests the idea of space, air that of time, fire that of light, water that of life and earth that of form.

The five elements are nothing but reduplicated ether. Modern science has confirmed this ancient insight in its discovery that atoms are composed mainly of empty space and that solid form is really an illusion, in fact is only an energy field.

Chakras and Tattvas

 The Five Elements and their relation to Chakras:

1. Root Chakra - Earth - Fragrance - Nose - Anus

2. Sex Chakra - Water - Taste - Tongue - Urino-genital

3. Navel Chakra - Fire - Sight - Eyes - Feet

4. Heart Chakra - Air - Touch - Skin - Hands

5. Throat Chakra - Ether - Hearing - Ears - Voice

In this way we can see that the tattvas represent our three bodies.

• GROSS BODY composed of the five elements, along with the gross forms of the sense organs, motor organs and mind. Operates during the waking state.

• SUBTLE BODY composed of the five tanmatras, along with the subtle forms of the sense organs, motor organs and mind. Operates during the dream state in states of inspiration.

• CAUSAL BODY composed of the Buddhi, ego and mind, along with the causal form of the tanmatras. Operates in deep sleep and in states of Samadhi (higher consciousness).