Dr. Vignesh Devraj on Ayurveda’s Holistic Approach for Modern Living

04:54 – 09:17

Q1 – Upholding a Century-Old Ayurvedic Legacy: From Guru-Shishya to Modern Education

Swami

Thanks. Dr. Vignesh, first things first, I think, you know, you’ve got a 100 year old legacy, right? In terms of this whole system of treatment and you know, it was all started by your grandfather and you know, can you tell us the heritage, the vintage and that’s something that…

Dr Vignesh Devraj Mm-hmm. Swami I think I’m very keen to understand. So what does that history bring to you and how does it help you today? Dr Vignesh Devraj So, in the 19, early 1920, I mean just 1921, so few years before that, the then Maharaja of Cochin, so he saw that there are lot of good Ayurvedic clinics and Vaidyas in those, at that time they were Vaidyas. So, there were lot of Vaidyas practicing in Malabar region, that is northern Kerala.

So at that time he said, okay, it’s time that we also have such institutes in near the part of Kochin region, which is the Kochi Maharaja, he is the 15th Maharaja at that time. So and he initiated with few people who are quite enterprising, one of them my great grandfather and his two cousin brothers. All three of them started this institute called Sitaram Ayurveda. And not only that in Thrissur is also like a epicenter of, you will see a lot of Ayurvedic manufacturing units, hospitals, which is quite well known. It’s considered to be the capital of Ayurveda in Kerala actually. So that is where it started. And then it’s a… it continued in the family and to have a business sustained for more than a hundred years. Maybe it didn’t grow big, but it did sustain for more than a hundred years. And over 700 employees are working, doctors, therapists, people who are cultivating the herbs, sourcing it from the local areas, directly and indirect jobs are being provided. And it’s a small institute, but it’s a very fulfilling mission that this institute is continuing.

Swami

So what’s that heritage and the knowledge that got built over 100 years? How does it get archived? How does it get passed on to generations? So how does it happen in this case?

Dr Vignesh Devraj

So a few decades ago, you know, you would sit with your, whoever is your immediate, wherever you are inheriting this knowledge from, you would sit with them and when the patients are there, you sit with them and learn with them. And it’s like an internship throughout your life. So during my childhood days after my school, I would spend time with my father and I’ll be in the backyard of the pharmacy where you’ll see a lot of herbs and sometimes some herbs are not tasty, but some sometimes you will see a lot of jaggery there because it’s also mixed. And I used to be fond of stealing those jaggery, but sometimes when you fall sick, they used to also give you a lot of these herbal decoctions – we call it Kashayam, which is not so tasty. But the idea is when you have that family lineage, you get a better start understanding how many things are being done. And you see the father, you see your own father treating patients and you see the different kinds of patients and you see all the medicines how it is being prepared prescribed. So that exposure is one of the ways it is being inherited. But today however after the late the 19th century I mean sorry the late 20th century now institutionalized way of teaching has become the norm. So you need to go to a college and get that studies done. Now you go to a we have this course called Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine Surgery which is for five and a half years of course centralized university called Kerala University of Health Sciences which is approving that. So now that is how most of the Ayurvedic doctors are. I personally, me and my father, we went to a college to study that. But before that it was all of a you see and do and it comes with lot of learning and they would have gone to a guru and learnt it from there.

09:21 – 16:14

Q2 What are the fundamental differences between the modern allopathic (Western) approach and the traditional Ayurvedic approach when it comes to understanding and treating diseases? – (Allopathy Enhances Longevity, Ayurveda Enhances Quality of Life)

Swami

Okay, okay. And so when you look at the modern medicine, which is really the English medicine, if you were to call it, right, the western medicine versus the traditional form of Ayurvedic way of treatment and is the learning between what is there in the western medicine and the learning in this form of, you know, therapy and medicine, is it very different and what do you think are the differences and what are the benefits that you see in this style of education and what do you think makes a big difference when you study Ayurveda and go as an Ayurvedic Vaidyan as you call it. So therefore, how is it very different? 

Dr Vignesh Devraj

So if you try to, there is a huge difference how the allopathic system is treating and how the Ayurvedic approach is. Now see Ayurveda is a documentation of how humans interacted with his surroundings. So at that time the rishis and people who observed how human being is being interacting with the surroundings and how that is impacting him and what could be done to improve it, what could not be done to improve it.