The dead don’t wake. The sleeper does. Even Khumbakarna, who used to sleep for six months at a stretch, woke up, and when he did, he stayed awake for the other six months of the year. That is probably as long as any human being has ever slept and stayed awake. But Ayurved has been sleeping for a longer time. Only now it shows signs of waking up. Will it be able to shake of slumber altogether and take its rightful place in the forward march of science?

Bringing their culture and commerce along with them, The English set up an ascendancy in this country about 200 years ago. The culture and commerce that answer the needs of our life rise to glory- as the first rays of morning light grow into a big shining sun. The commerce and culture of the British spread from the Himalayan heights to the Commorin Cape. But before the British sun rose, who treated the sick in this country? And what methods did they use? There was no allopathic or homeopathic system then. There were only the two systems Ayurved and Unani. The Mohammedans had brought Unani; and before they came, there was only the indigenous Ayurved. Now we can not do without Allopathy and Homeopathy; or so we think. But these systems are relatively new in India.

Victory in war requires doctors as well as generals. In ages past this country was very successful in defending itself. It had military might. This means it had medical might too. People may say that Ayurved did not keep abreast of the times. They may say that in the span of a hundred years western medicine has jumped ahead of a thousand years of Ayurved development. This is true to a great extent, and we give some examples. In 1796 Dr. Jenner found the vaccination for smallpox. Pasteur took a strain of bacilli from the brain of a rabid animal and developed an anti-rabies serum. In 1865 Dr. Loeffler came out with a diptheria serum. Dr. Rontgen developed the x-ray, a glorious contribution to medicine.

To know something is knowledge. And the impression of some knowledge on the brain is called tradition. Tradition develops into instinct in the course of time, and once a thing becomes instinctive, a thousand years can’t wipe it out. The recent allopathic advance is a development of the past. In the 16th century Servetus became famous for his study of Anatomy. About the same time Harvey also made a name for himself with his discovery of the circulation of the blood. Allopathy has a real history and makes its bid to become our instinctive response to disease.

We don’t gain much by the saying that Ayurved is the mother of all medicines. We have to show it actively. If we can’t do that, we can only console ourselves in vacant hopes of a bright future.

Is Ayurved really waking up? With all its distinctive qualities? Will it shine like a sun? The demand for Ayurved medicine has increased in the last few decades. There is reason for hope. If we can utilize all up-to-date advances for the furtherance and establishment of Ayurved, we will be doing well. If we can do it, we will be taking our first step forward.

Nature is supposed to undergo a change every twelfth year according to modern scientists. We don’t notice it because twelve years is but a dot in time. Perhaps we could detect something new in Nature after twelve such cycles; i. e., 144 years. But that is conjecture. As the theory stands now, protons and electrons emerge from Nature every twelve years, at which time Nature is formed anew of different elements.

Knowledge of Ayurved began to spread in the last part of the last century.

We feel the pulse of the new-born baby; as yet we do not see how he will grow or what kind of man he will be. That is not our lookout. The same with Ayurved. We feel the pulses of its well-wishers; and we know it is alive. We do not try to understand what shape it will take. If it is a molecule of sugar-candy, the future ages will get sugar-candy from it. But again that is not our lookout.

The foundation of Ayurved must be both flexible and strong. Where the wishes of many are to be materialized, attention and regard must be paid to a variety of ideas. Our constitution must be liberal; then it will be strong. Many people don’t like the idea of a constitution for Ayurved. But where people are interested in something, a variety of ideas and wishes will be present, and a constitution is nothing but a framework projection of these different ideas and wishes.

Inventions are made to fulfil want. At the beginning of the last war, when the band started playing, everyone got ready for the fight. Physicians also. At that time the British Government spent a lot of money on hospitals and local medical posts. Wanting to do even more, they invented new instruments. All this was done out of the necessity of the moment; for no one wants to be destroyed. A ward for cancer has been opened in the Calcutta Astanga Ayurved Hospital. To cope with disease intelligence, research, instruments, etc. must increase. But that is not all. We want to be developed and free in a distinctively Ayurvedic way so that everyone can be fulfilled by Ayurved. Is it possible?

One Ayurved seer said long ago:

Consciousness plus the elements five

Make up the Self which of itself doth ail or thrive.

This means that ether, air, fire, water, earth, and consciousness are the things of which individual self is composed. The Self is the origin of its own health and disease, and we must begin with it in all medical treatment. This same ancient seer has said that we should lock at a disease not only with our physical eyes and fancies, but also with the eyes of our open intelligence and experience. We are to feel our way, as the modern expression puts it. This seer has said many more things. But we are scarcely able to appreciate them or him today. Rather, it seems we have lost our kinship with these seeing ancients, have rejected pride in our ancestry, and have been content to let our mind be covered with gloomy inferiority and ignorance.

When a lion wakes up, it is not simply that a sleep vanishes. A lionliness awakes. So let it be with Ayurved. May the truth of life be awake in her, may we take from the West what is good, and combine it with what is good from the East, may we worship our ancestors again, may the light of intelligence burn again in us, and may the crown of Aryan Culture-which had for many days been with us-be placed again upon our heads!