Enlightenment Begins With Diet

Enlightenment Begins With Diet

Ayurveda is one of the most ancient and comprehensive systems of healthcare that exist today. The term comes from the Sanskrit words ayus, life and veda, knowledge; it literally means “knowledge or science of life“. Ayurveda developed from the spiritual texts of ancient India called the vedas, or “books of wisdom“. These are at least 5,000 years old and are widely revered as our oldest literature.And it's this very body of knowledge recorded long ago that's finally getting the recognition it deserves. Indeed, modern science now proves why an Ayurvedic approach to health can be so powerful and effective.

One of Ayurveda's core philosophies is the idea that within each and every one of us lays the capacity to live happy, balanced lives, free of pain and disease. But to achieve seemingly superhuman feat, we have to create the qualities of what's called “self-referral“, which means you're connected to yourself in ways that allow you to optimise every aspect of yourself. In other words, you're able to effortlessly know and manage who you are, what your body type is, what your lifestyle choices should be, how to process emotions and stress, and how to interact with all the different fundamental qualities of nature around you while maintaining a balance. Granted, it is impossible to maintain balance at all times, and we all have the awareness that we're constantly striving to do something good for our own mind, body and spirit: that should be the goal. And that's science of experience. Health, according to Ayurveda, is the ultimate by product of enlightenment.

I realise that the idea “enlightenment begins with diet“ may sound like an absurd and abstract statement, but if you can open yourself up to this new knowledge and experience you will see what it can do for you.

Despite all that we know today in comparison to just 100 years ago, disease still remains largely a mystery. Yes, we've decoded our DNA and created vaccines and antibiotics to combat known invaders. Yes, we've developed advanced diagnostic tools and sharpened our knives to revolutionise surgical techniques. But we still struggle mightily to deal with understanding why one person dies prematurely while another lives robustly for a long time.

We've all heard of the athlete with no risk factors for coronary artery disease, yet who dies suddenly on the playing field of a heart attack; the lung cancer victim who never smoked; the skinny health nut who is diagnosed with diabetes -onset dementia; and the HIV or early-onset dementia; and the HIV positive individual who never shows signs or symptoms of sickness and who never receives drugs or treatment. What explains these phenomena? We may never know.

In addition to accepting a certain mystery surrounding the body's functionality , and whether or not it becomes sick and enfeebled, how we choose to live ­ and think ­ has a profound effect on our health and psychology . It's far easier, and cheaper, to prevent illness than to treat it once it's established. And prevention cannot happen the way treatments are often delivered ­ targeted to one specific area.

There is no such thing as “spot prevention“; we have to honour the body as a whole, complex unit. This is why Ayurveda can be so powerful. It tells us that the mind exerts the greatest influence on the body , and avoiding sickness demands that we bring our own awareness into balance and extend that balance to the body . This in turn manifests in a higher state of health.

Om Namah Shivay