Osteoporosis & Osteo-arthritis, the fundamental Ayurveda perspective Part-2

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The property of 'Snigdham':

Snigdham (Oilyness or Unctuous) is a quality associated with Kapha which is balancing the 'Rooksham' (dryness) property of Vaatha. Oils exhibit this property in its richness. It is defined as the property in water which is bringing the normally staying apart dust particles together in to pliable and fertile mud. Oils are generally mentioned as 'Sneham' which means 'that which holds the property of snigdham'. Sneham means love also. Love brings people together while its opposite, hatred splits. Romantic love is connected with reproductivity. Origin of life, growth, sustenance, reproductivity, etc are related to this quality. Rudeness, harshness, cruelty, anger, aggression, etc are considered as dry or rough and they stay against life; its sustenence, reproductivity, growth and longevity.

Everybody desire to love and to be loved. And human being is a social being. Knowingly and unknowingly we desire for our own space in the family and social circles; making a presence in the consciousness, memory and attention of others. We want at least some moments of our life imprinted somewhere forever. These are all possible only through interactions. Getting out of these chains of interactions makes life dry and that dryness spreads from mind in to body as well. Life takes origin from love, sustains and overcomes death through it. Love, reproductivity, achievements, etc are all thus connected with the desire for immortality, either directly or indirectly. Lack of love thus hold a high importance in degenerative diseases. Normal degenerative process in the bones starts at the age of 34, as it is understood. Here we have to assume that the constructive part is getting dominated by the deconstructive side. This marks the end of growth and starting of deterioration in a way.

Many plants die after flowering and fruiting. In human life also, meeting the life partner and union is the peak of life. Birth of children onwards, life starts its way down. Lonelyness, solitary life, having no children (especially in women), depression, stress, etc should be viewed from this angle. Reproductivity is something nature values very high. It is one of the most important factor behind the eligibility to live, from the side of nature. Libido of an individual becomes strong when he or she is in love with the partner. Birth of a child adds again power and a new reason, goals, relevance and meanings to live. Even grand parents find meaning for their life awaiting the births of grandchildren and being together with them. Individuals getting out of this chain of love and continuum of life become insignificant for the sustenance and continuum of life and nature. The support for life granted by nature is withdrawn in such situations and that results in mental depression and developement of degenerative tendencies in the body. A rise in the susceptibility for osteoporosis after menopause also we could see from this perspective. People finding other meanings for life like working on spiritual development, creative artistic or intellectual activities cannot be counted here. In the network of love, flows the cooling downward flow of cosmic energy. Precisely, people having no intimate relations, family, children, etc and nothingelse substituting this emptiness, are simply out of this flow like cells which don't have sufficient access to blood circulation.

As it is explained, formation, sustenance and growth of material bodies depend on a slight dominance of the cooling downward flow of cosmic energy. In Ayurveda, the properties of Seetham (cold), Snigdham (Oiliness), Guru (heaviness), Mandam (sluggishness), Slakshanam (smoothness) Mruthsnam (stickyness) and Sthiram (static) are presented as indicating this side. These are the properties signifying the dosha, Kapha. Kapha promoting properties are generally mentioned as 'Soumyam' which means calming, soothing, soft, etc. Another term which is also relevant here is 'Aardram' which means wet or making wet. Love, compassion, mercy, patience, generosity, tolerance, etc are all mentioned as Aardram. They are promoting creation, sustenance, growth and continuum of life through promoting fertility. Charles Darwin observed that the organisms which are most adaptable with nature and its changes are the survivors; not the strongest or most intelligent. Ayurveda reveals that the secret of long and healthy life lies in cultivating a lifestyle emphasising the domination of these feminine qualities. Instead of going in to fight with the circumstances and trying to manipulate and tame nature, understanding it and finding possibilities of compromise and living in harmony with it is the right approach.

Highly masculine individuals and societies mark these qualities as silly and signifying weakness. But actually these are the emotions gathering and maintaining strength. Action needs the utilisation of this strength. All their opposites could exist and function only at their expense; just like a spoiled son lavishes the patiently earned and saved wealth of his father and blaming him for his misery. In a more or less healthy individual only a disease can occur and stay. If the individual dies, the disease also must die. Everything insane and evil also thus exist at the expense of Dharma.

When the heating upward flow dominates over the feminine downward flow, Vaatha properties like Rooksham (dryness), Lagkhu (lightness), Seetham (cold), Kharam (roughness), Sookshmam (micro) and Chalam (dynamicity) will become prominent. These are all divergent properties. A grain of corn or its cooked (just enough) form exhibits the Kapha qualities like oiliness, heaviness, sluggishness (slow in digestion, absorbtion and metabolism), smooth surface, stickiness and so on. If it is made in to popcorn, convergence inverses in to divergence like a flower bud opening in to a flower. The properties exhibited then matches to that of Vaatha; like dryness, lightness, roughness on the surface, micro quality through the separation of particles and the vacuum and pores developed in it and dynamicity through its easily flying nature. Integrity which was binding molecules around a centre or axis has just reversed in to a diverging nature.

A society, civilisation or nation which is promoting the heating upward flow will suffer more from degenerative diseases; for instance, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. Where hard competition in everything and everywhere exists, stress and anxiety rules almost everybody, many people suffer from depression, lonelyness, anxiety, etc. the vaatha properties will dominate and that will make everything hostile for life. Health, growth, fertility, immunity, etc will go down. However, the whole world is more and more turning in to this direction, more or less. Plant kingdom which is relatively dominated by the soumya qualites is weakening. Humans are in search of more and more dynamicity, emptying the energy resources which are formed through processes which went through very long spans of time. Thus, making the cooling side weaker and heating up side stronger is the root cause of  many problems we face today.

All kinds of energisers and stimulants are on the heating up side. They promote the break up of matter and the release of energy. Tea, coffe, alcohol, nicotin, narcotics, etc are examples for this. They are now understood as dehydrating agents. In Ayurveda perspective, they are hot in property. Their use should be avoided or limited; like people in general, work, earn and save money most of the time and in exceptional situations like festivals and occassions of celebration become a little generous and lavish, spending a certain percentage of the savings. Just like, the habit of celebrating very often makes one bankrupt, regular, excessive and continuous use of stimulants and energisers lead one in to loss of strength and immunity and susceptible to degenerative diseases.

Like the above mentioned drinks which mostly contain water, but hot in property, snigdham and cooling properties differ depending on what ingredients water contains and also on various other factors. Bolied water is hot in property and it stays like that for long time, eventhough cooled down. Water from the rivers and streams flowing through the mountains are lighter than the water in the plains and in the sea level. Water from a deep well is having these properties in high level. In some places where the water from the wells contain too much of sediments is drying up the skin. This means that the water is having no snigdham quality left in it. Cooling property is not actually the coolness we feel or could measure with a thermometer. It is the action which is felt or assumed. For example, when getting a burn, immediately applying ice, cool water, buttermilk or aloe vera juice helps. Ice is certainly cooler than buttermilk or aloe vera juice. But in action, aloe vera juice and buttermilk prooves more cooling than ice.

It will be cotinued soon
Part 1

‌©Dr. Sajan Kumar Somarajan (July 2012)



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