Learn How Ancient Indian Knowledge Combats Modern Disease

By Sahana Singh

HOUSTON: Come September 11, Houstonians will learn from Dr. David Frawley and other experts how ancient Indian knowledge can be a bulwark against modern diseases.

The role of Yoga, Ayurveda and Meditation in human health was well understood by ancient Indian rishis and rishikas. Their knowledge was passed down generations and not so long ago, Ayurvedic remedies for common ailments such as cold and fever were known to every person of Indic origin. This was before medical drugs such as Advil and Claritin got embedded into modern lifestyles.

Dr. David Frawley (Pandit Vamadeva Shastri), an Acharya in the Vedic tradition has spent a great part of his life in educating people about the holistic healing offered by Ayurveda and Yoga.  He is a recipient of Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian awards and author of path-breaking books on Sanatana Dharma, Yoga, Ayurveda and Vedic Astrology. On September 11, the Acharya will speak about the importance of Yoga and Ayurveda for psychological well-being.
“Ayurveda is inherently a psychological as much as it is a physical system of medicine,” explains Dr. Frawley. According to him, we cannot really understand Ayurveda without looking at its view of the mind and consciousness.  At the Houston event he plans to drive home the importance of reviving the psychological underpinnings of Ayurveda and applying it to treat modern afflictions such as hypertension.

Dr. Rajan Narayanan is another expert who will be sharing the stage with Dr. Frawley. The Founder of Life in Yoga Foundation, Dr. Narayanan believes that Yoga alone has the potential to reveal a unified structure of understanding of the human system. His lecture is titled “Place of Yoga in medicine – A Historical and Current Perspective.”

Dr. Indranill Basu Ray, the third expert to speak at India House will underline the role of meditation in modern medicine. Dr. Basu Ray, a cardiologist says: “Meditating does more than just calming you down, it makes you perform better and alters the structure of your brain”. The audience will learn how neuroprotective effects of meditation have been borne out by electroencephalographic (EEG), cognitive and imaging studies on monks.

The last speaker of the day, Dr. Raj Vedam will show the pathways by which ancient Indian knowledge of health was transferred to the rest of the world. “Did you know that Materia Medica from Ayurveda was the basis of Western and Eastern medicine from at least 2,000 years ago?” asks Dr. Vedam. His lecture titled “Antiquity of Indian Medical Systems” will be a treat for history lovers.

The event is being presented by Indian History Awareness and Research, (IHAR) in collaboration with India House. The Houston-based think tank has been developing narratives of Indian history free from the bias that has often distorted perspectives. India House has played a stellar role in bringing education, services and Indian culture to Houstonians.

Please visit www.indiahouse.org/events to register for talks on ‘Relevance Of Indic Traditions of Health and Well Being’.