THE NEW AGE PARADIGM IN AYURVEDA:

A Comparison Between New Age and Traditional Ayurveda

By Ved Kovid, Durgadas (R.A.P)

(c) Ved Kovid, Durgadas. All Rights Reserved.

One:
NEW AGE AYURVEDA:
(American Ayurveda, based on the authority of western 'Vedic' scholars and self-proclaimed Indian masters coming to America):

-Auras, Chakra balancing, Spiritual healing of diseases

-Reiki, Pranic Healing

-Limited herbal preparations 

-Palliative Panchakarma with an emphasis towards anti-surgery. 

-Massages done with generic oils or as a part of Spa-Ayurveda (which end up aggravating the wastes in the body without elimination, causing disease)

-Karmic causes are emphasized and possession is seen as cause of psychological disorders.

-Cancer seen as a result of negative flow of energies or astral parasites invading the aura

-Marmas seen as energy centres fot activation and healing through acupressure or stimulation.

-Poojas and Havans seen as magical healing processes a d Deities simply as Cosmic Divinities with supernatural powers and Faith Healing.

-Yoga is seen as a magical system of energy medicine to heal the body and saw various exercises as curing ailments beyond musculo-skeletal by themselves alone.

-Described in terms of cleansing, energies etc.

-Vegetarian and Vegan Diets as per Yoga (sattvic) applied to all

-Daiva Chikitsa and Sattvavajaya (Spiritual therapies and Psychological therapies) seen as primary methods of healing and seen as magical methods of supernatural methods of healing the psyche in terms of energies, powers and such

-Diagnosis by questioning with emphasis on pulse, tongue etc. as also auras and psychology of the person and doshas according to New Age Ayurveda models

-Predominant dosha as per charts or questions determines one's Prakriti or biological constitution (superficially), which is then given emphasis alone

-Diseases are classified according to the three doshas alone, ignoring traditional concerns and deeper nidanas (causes) and treated generically

Two:
TRADITIONAL AYURVEDA:
(Based on Traditional Ayurvedic, Yogic and Tantric texts and traditions of India)

-Internal detoxification methods of Panchakarma in detail beyond palliative care

-Specific massages according to various longer purvakarma (preliminary actions) before Panchakarma as specific massage techniques and therapies as kizhi (boluses) prepared accordingly and give along with specific laxatives to remove toxins from the body and with specific oils (where required)

-Surgery recommended for several conditions including Vascular surgery, Fistulas and Hemorrhoids, Brain surgery, Amputations, Dentistry, Cataracts, Kidney stones,  C sections, Cancerous tumors, Facial reconstruction (plastic surgery) etc.

 -Herbal and dietary therapies along with specific lifestyle regimes as per diseases and their categories recommended

-Alchemical preparations

 -Genetic, dietary, lifestyle causes of diseases

-Psychological disorders seen as a result of dietary factors and genetic causes creating chemical imbalances in the mind mainly. Rare cases are specific and several forms of psychic possession are noted as a separate forms of insanity arising from karmic afflictions

-Cancer seen as a result of wastes entering the blood and bodily tissues and causing swelling and not healing, causing cancerous tumours

 -Spiritual therapies used as tools for healing the psyche and understanding deeper karmic effects

-Marmas seen as vital spots that should be guarded and . protected and healed via pastes.w oils for light massage etc. When damaged And not stimulated or acupressure performed due to impairment of organs as a result.

-Poojas and Havans seen as psychological tools for healing understanding mental effects and environment effects they had scientifically. Deities seen as psycho-cosmic or Yogic (symbolic) expressions and realising that one is responsible for their own actions (karmas) and one alone has to work these out or live our co sequences himself.

-Yoga is seen as a method of psychological and also physical relief by contemplation of the Self although some exercises were recommended according to disease. Specific meditations were also given and their psychological effects noted.

-Described in terms of biological rhythms as per various individuals and a deeper understanding of embryology and genetic factors behind ones constitution.

-Meats as well as vegetable substances given various therapeutic actions according to constitutions and also diseases. Vegetarian or purely sattvic diets indicated in some cases where they cause issues according to their chemical reactions in the mind-body complex, such as in psychological disorders and metabolic disorders

-Meats employed in rejuvenation therapies for certain conditions and indicated where there is wasting of tissues etc. as also in various boluses for massages etc.

-Daiva Chikitsa (Divine therapies - ritualism) seen as a form of Sattvavajaya (psychological healing for restoring purity to the mind - placebo effects) for healing psychological disorders is understood in its specifics for various forms of psychosis and also Yukti-vyapashraya (rational therapies - viz. surgical methods, herbs and formulas, diet etc.) employed for healing

-Diagnosis by medical history, questioning, palpitation which includes pulse rhythms, looking at skin, tongue, eyes, diet, lifestyle, age, sex etc.

-Biological types (Prakriti) is differentiated and tailored as per one's psychology, age, sex, climate, seasons, digestive and exercise strengths, tissue and other examinations and abilities, weaknesses of the individual etc.

-Diseases are classified into various forms according to atmaja (genetic), karmaja (karmic), agantuja (accidental) etc. and derive from a variety of forms including dual-doshic, triple-doshic, raktaja etc. and several other forms treated differently and various nidanas (causes) are noted and also treated specifically according to these, not generically

CONCLUSION:

While there is nothing wrong with some of the modalities that are being used in the New Ayurveda or American Ayurveda circles, they fail to address the original, more vast and traditional views of such concepts and by reducing and limiting them, denigrate Ayurveda as a science, as a whole. Their excess focus upon spiritual modalities is plausible, but traditionally these were mainly for psychological afflictions and also karmas and went along with the science of Astrology and Karma in a deeper sense, rather than a superficial level, as also surgery and physical therapies were also employed, as also in the greater science of Tantric Yogas, which itself has been reduced and Tantric-Ayurveda introduced into the west, like Tantric-Yoga, in a limited fashion by the likes of Yogi Bhajan and others, who have become authorities in the West, but who are scorned by traditional Sikh communities in India, in the similar fashion that pop-Gurus such as Sai Baba and Swami Nithyananda are not taken seriously by the bulk of orthodox Hindus in India!

This movement from orthodoxy to pseud-Ayurveda, pseudo-Advaita and "I said-so-ism" is quite fitting with the limited American minds.

We must remember that Paganism in Europe was wiped out. The New Age approaches today are partially also inspired by western occultism, which came into Europe with the arrival of the Romani (Gypsy) tribes from India, who were fallen, lower caste or outcaste members of the Hindu society and hence never authorities. Such people are comparable to the "Pashu" or Left-Hand Tantrics who took the texts and rituals literally and fell into degradation, black magic, occultism and Circus-tricks, through which they earned their living and still do in modern-day India as travellers using the slight of hand, cunning and wit. They were experts in face-reading, palm-reading and hence body-language, through which their arts were perverted derivatives of the original Tantric and Vedic sciences in the first place. Even in modern Indian, such backward communities were never taken seriously nor seen as orthodox or having a complete wisdom or training.

So, it appears the West has collected or gathered, through time, various distortions of true Hindu sciences and teachings and then adapted the modern wave of them in their limited forms as per their limited Christocentricand New-Age (Gypsy-inspired) moulds, which were already corruptions from the beginning that never had any orthodox or traditional saw, meaning or validation among the Hindu-Vedic masses!