“Purusha” or man who balances the world

In the pages of "Charak Samhita" it has been stated that Satwa (mind), Atma (soul) and Sharira (body) are like the legs of a tripod upon which the world rests. The world stays balanced when these three are in a balanced condition. The fusion of these (mind, soul and body) is called "Purusha" (man) in ayurveda. Purusha can turn the world into heaven or hell.

A Purusha (man) with a healthy, balanced satwa ( mind) is eager to help man kind and the surrounding world to lead a comfortable and peaceful life. They invent new technologies and find novel ways to achieve their goals. Thus the first support of the tripod is a healthy mind.

An unhealthy body fails to co operate with the healthy mind in achieving its goals. Hence the second leg of the tripod i.e “the body” should be healthy to maintain the balance.

A good soul which has traversed a path of good deeds in its previous life helps the healthy mind and body to achieve the goals. Thus the combination of a healthy body, healthy mind and a good soul keep the world in balanced condition.

Ayurveda always aims to keep the “purusha” in a balanced condition so that the world will always remain well balanced.

Nuclear weapons, bombs, wars, genocides, homicides, racism etc are results of unhealthy minds . These unhealthy minds are the reason why the world is becoming increasingly unfit to live in.

Posted by Dr.Savitha Suri

Keep back pain at bay

Back pain is the most common complaint among adults under 45. Back pain brings their activities to a complete halt and intervenes in the progress of their career. Researchers say that it is really a challenge to a physician to find out the true cause of back pain.

Here is a quick take on the anatomy of the human back. Our body depends on the spinal column for structural stability and mobility. We twist, bend and flex with the help of spinal column. The spinal column is made up of 24 vertebrae, 7 in the neck (the cervical vertebrae), 12 in the thorax (the thoracic vertebrae), and 5 in the lower back (the lumbar vertebrae). The sacrum, located just below the lumbar vertebrae, consists of 5 fused vertebrae. The tailbone, or coccyx, with its 3 to 5 fused vertebrae, lies just beneath the sacrum. These vertebrae are placed one on another from skull to pelvis. Spongy discs are present in between vertebrae .The spinal column is tightly wrapped by muscles and ligaments.
The spinal cord is enclosed within vertebral canal which is formed by alignment of vertebrae.

Acharya sushruta describes anatomy of spinal column as follows.

Prushte trimshat - The number of back bones are 30 (Cervical-7 , Thoracic – 12, Lumbar- 5, vertebrae fused in sacrum -5 , coccyx -1 ). While describing the joints in spinal column it has been said as “ Chaturvimshatihi prishta vamshe “. This means there are 24 joints in spinal column.

Maamsaanyatra nibaddhani siraabhihi snaayubhistatha. |
Asthinyaalambanam kritwaa ||

The ligaments and tendons hold the bones and muscles together.

Posted by Dr.Savitha Suri
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