Ayurveda - Get Ready for a Huge Volcanic Eruption in the Healthcare Industry

San Francisco, CA, September 21, 2005 --(PR.com)-- Ayurveda - a word unknown to many is the mother of herbal medicine. It is the great grandfather of organized health care and is the oldest completely documented medical system in the world. It has been around for five thousand years. FDA just made it to hundred this year. How about Pfizer, Merck, Lilly, Bayer, Glaxo? Well, there is only a small difference of four thousand three hundred and twenty two (4322) years between the ages of ayurveda less the combined ages of Pfizer, Merck, Eli Lilly, Bayer and Glaxo-Smith-Kline. Ayurveda has 10 times more experience attached to its resume, as compared to the 'big boys.' Yet, the 'big boys' freely roam our planet like man-eating lions, while ayurveda patiently grazes like a wise old elephant. The time has come for this elephant to use its might and wisdom for the benefit of all mankind.

It almost seems like prior to 1860 (which is when most of these companies were founded), people died of depression and erectile dysfunction. Today, billions of dollars are spent in the research, development and marketing programs to treat erectile dysfunction and depression. Not a fraction of it is spent in the number one killer disease of lower respiratory infections; mostly pneumonia and other diseases of the lungs, windpipe or bronchial tubes, including Legionnaire's disease. According to Reuters Foundation "Each year, more than 4 million people die from these types of infections. Most victims are under the age of five who are not the bank breakers for these so called 'big boys.' If you look at the resources going into child health as compared to other areas i.e. erectile dysfunction/depression, and other blockbuster drugs, the number is shamefully small. Malaria is the third largest killer in the world after HIV/AIDS with a death toll of 1-5 million. Malaria kills an African child every 30 seconds. So by the time one get done reading this article, more than 10 children, each of which took 9 months in their mother’s womb, died right in front of our eyes. Pray that we will see their faces again and again in the mirror of creation, the miracle of these dying children, their clear eyes meaning more profit to us than profit to our own. 

Are we living in a drug free country or in a country where the drugs are free (just pay a small blood sucking fee)? Do the drugs come first and the diseases follow? According to Ray Moynihan author of 'Selling Sickness' "The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies are selling sickness and making an everyday life into an illness." The 'big boys' come up with some drugs, and then every day living becomes an illness . ADD, depression, erectile dysfunction are killer diseases for them. As per Glaxo’s website, ‘every single HOUR, every single hour Glaxo-Smith-Kline spends more than $450,000 to find new medicines.’ Are there any new diseases popping every single hour that we are not told of? At the speed of $450,000 per hour, Glaxo is orbiting our planet at $10.8 million a day; a small expense of just one of the many man-eating lions that our planet breeds. Do these new diseases in any retrospect equate this expense? The 'big boys' are trying to find new blockbuster medicines as if this were a fashion show where every season you release new attires.

This might just be the beginning of a healthcare revolution. Look what is happening in California. Organic foods are gaining popularity; natural product sales are on the rise and more people than ever before are seeking alternate ways than conventional medicine. Yet, many people have never even heard of the term ayurveda; unless one is affiliated with yoga in some ways or have starved of knowledge in the past. Yoga and ayurveda are like siblings, like two sides of one coin. People have seen the yoga side and have been benefiting ever since, its time to flip and look at the other side of this coin. People will see some amazing benefits of ayurveda and would have opened themselves to yet another world. Ayurveda is a highly sophisticated medical system. Traditonal ayurveda speaks of eight branches: kāyāchikitsā (internal medicine), shalyachikitsā (surgery including anatomy), shālākyachikitsā (eye, ear, nose, and throat diseases), kaumārabhritya (pediatrics), bhūtavidyā (psychiatry, or demonology), and agada tantra (toxicology), rasāyana (science of rejuvenation), and vājīkarana (the science of fertility).

80 percent of the world still continues to depend on plant-based herbal medicines. For these people, it is a matter of economics. They don’t have the money to buy modern drugs or to support pharmaceutical research in their own countries. From cradle to grave, humans are injected with chemicals. Any layman knows the existence of multiple side effects in consumption of artificially manufactured chemicals/medications. Synthetically manufactured drugs face multiple health risks. You will not find a single drug without side effect warnings. Even the most common over the counter (OTC) medications bear multiple side effect warnings. Compare that with naturally manufactured products in ayurveda doing the same task. Ayurveda has remedies for acidity, weight loss, diabetes, cholesterol, iron deficiency, hair loss, vigor and vitality, asthma/allergy, liver enhancement for alcohol consumers (from toxicology), strengthening of joints for daily yoga practitioners and much more. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Since ayurvedic substances are made from natural ingredients, they have no side effects and many are safe to consume even during pregnancy. They act more like food and nutrition while attacking the sicknesses.

Ayurveda is the oldest system of Medicine in the world and traces its root to ancient India. The word ‘ayurveda’ is derived from the Sanskrit words, Ayur equals life and Veda equals (knowledge or science) and is aptly commonly referred as ‘The science of life.’ Life, according to ayurveda, is a combination of senses, mind, body and soul. It is a systematic approach which utilizes all that nature provides to overcome the illness and by strengthening oneself, to maintain good health. The aim of ayurveda is to give complete health and not just getting free from physical diseases. Thus, ayurveda brings the concepts of preventive health care and health promotion. 

One might not have even heard of the word ‘Ayurveda,’ but celebrities like Sting, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Demi Moore, Richard Gere, Goldie Hawn, Barbra Streisand, Donna Karan, Elizabeth Taylor, and living pop legend Madonna (who gave birth to her two babies using Ayurvedic techniques) have already embraced this ancient system in their daily regime. Ayurveda is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), which supports research and integration of Ayurveda as part of a comprehensive modern medical approach to health.