Covid-19, which originated from one corner of the world and devastated the ’normal’ ways of the entire planet by taking lives, halting economic activities and causing traumatic effects to body and mind with extreme aftermaths. With that, ‘What is Health and how to care for it’, has become a fundamental query in everyone’s mind. Indian philosophy of Pancha Kosha provides an appropriate framework towards it. The Upanishads state that our apparent reality or prakriti comprises of five different extensions, starting from the closely packed physical body, annamaya kosha(food sheath) pranamaya kosha(vital air sheath), and evolving gradually to more subtle and sublime levels of manomaya kosha(mind sheath), vigyanmaya kosha(intellect sheath) and anandmaya kosha(bliss sheath), all being supported by the absolute reality or Atman. The concept of Pancha Kosha or five cardinal layers or sheaths was elucidated in many sacred Ancient Hindu texts like Taittiriya Upanishad, Vivekacudamani and Panchadasi. Healthcare and well-being as we understand in modern societal setup is taking care of the needs of the first three sheaths and Income, employment, education, food security, housing, transportation, safety, and social support are all important factors to it. Additionally, trauma or adverse childhood experiences may have long-term effects on health and well-being.
Another framework used often to understand these needs of modern living is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow is said to have developed the concept of five stages of needs that motivate human behavior. The five stages in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in order from lowest to highest level include physiological, safety, social (love and belonging), esteem, and self-actualization, where first two levels of need are considered basic needs, which are based on the need for survival and safety. The third stage, social stage is based on psychological or emotional needs, which includes interpersonal relationships. In post-pandemic world, Social Needs are very vital to health and well-being of individuals and policy makers are recognising the importance of considering the level of fulfilled social needs in planning the policy interventions.
In pursuit of socialization which invariably leads to emotional well-being of an individual and society at large, the present dispensation at the Centre is striving hard to bring in transformative changes in how an individual should be treated where all dimensions of life is well taken care of. Ayurveda and Naturopathy are the holistic answers to it, which bring harmony into one’s life by striking a beautiful balance among people, society and nature.
In fact, Ayurveda has turned into a ‘slice of life’ from a ‘science of life’ with its ability to heal from within and for all. The ever increasing importance of Ayurveda has put it in the centre of millions of lives’ in India and across the globe. This oldest healing method is based on the science of life. Ayurvedic practices have become truly global with its drugs being used as food supplements in USA, EU, Japan and other countries. Many physicians practice Ayurveda in many parts of the world like USA, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Netherlands, Russia, UK, Israel, Japan, Nepal, Sri Lanka among others.
Similarly, Naturopathy also relies upon nature and inherent power of human body and mind. This most ancient health care mechanism has a holistic approach to human wellness and healthy living. Relying on the healing power of nature, Naturopathy stimulates the human body’s ability to heal itself with different kinds of therapies like diet therapy, fasting therapy, mud therapy, hydrotherapy, masso (massage) therapy, acupressure, chromo therapy, air therapy, magnet therapy. Naturopathy successfully treats all aspects of the human body like mental, physical, social and spiritual, believing that performing a prayer based on one’s spiritual faith is also an important part of treatment.
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