Does Ayurveda Believe in Just increasing Immunity
Whenever we discuss Ayurveda in the context of the immune system, the main misbelief is- Ayurveda does miracles and increases immunity! But this is not true in any sense. Because “increase” is a word which talks about “imbalance”! And Ayurveda is never in favor of any type of imbalance. Balance is health.
When you google anything in relation to immunity and Ayurveda. Google becomes yellow like Turmeric.
And every second post talks about the power of Ayurveda to increase immunity. But things are different with Ayurveda. Ayurveda is not just all about increasing your immunity. This wonderful science talks about the proper solution to any immune-related condition.
And if you are just looking for the answer to the question raised in the title of the post, then the answer is just “NO”. And believe me according to the principles of Ayurveda your favorite immunity drink Golden Milk is also not supposed to increase the immunity in any way.
Before anything we need to discuss “increasing-immunity-idiots“.
Do we need Excess of Immune Power
Think about North Korea for a while. One of the strongest armies and laced with weapons…!!
Does it make the place perfect?
Really not!!
The best thing is to balance the things. And when it comes to Ayurveda, this science strongly recommends only the approach of balance. Once we lose balance, we lead to diseases. The same is with the immune system too.
When we look at the simple but unwanted response of the immune system. What we know as- allergy. This condition is basically, where our immune system is aggressive. Therefore in quantitative examination things will be raised.
Immunoglobulins are the best weapons of the immune system. But in case of Celiac Disease, the same immunoglobulins raise beyond the limits. And this “excessive” nature complicates the whole scenario. So this is not about being overloaded. It is about smartness.
Immune is Intelligence
I, as a clinician, always believe in smartness. And smartness comes from intelligence. You cannot increase it. The only way to bring smartness to something is to train the person or system. Even our phones are nowadays smart because of the “intelligence”.
The same applies to the immune system. Because in the case of the immune system, the basic thing is- intelligence.
The wisdom of “allow”-“disallow” or “react”-“not-to-react” is all about intelligence. And the immune system is highly specialized in the same.
So we need to train the available sources. Therefore Ayurveda recommends the concept of immunomodulation. There is no evidence of the talks like – “increase” in Ayurveda.
But now the question is how does, Ayurveda trains the immune system? It is simple and clear, here it goes–
Training the Immune System
Human body converse with the universe by one mean- Diet. Diet is the most important link between macrocosm and microcosm. The food when enters in our system is analysed by the human body, through the activities of Agni. The Agni, analyses every aspects of the food and allows the good part in the system, and excretes the waste.
This process completes in different steps. Food converts from one form to another and finally reaches to the seventh level of dhatu- Shukr Dhatu. From here, food transforms in Ojus.
This is the reason, Ayurveda believes that Ojus is the nectar of the food. Because Ojus is the ultimate product of the interaction between food and body. And in this interaction, the possibility of fault is at both places-
- When you don’t select your food and
- When Agni (the digestive capacity) is not proper.
In any of these condition, we need to repair the system. And this repair is possible with many herbs, seriously other than – turmeric!!
There are many different tools with Ayurveda, which helps in improvement of performance of immune system. And one of these is Rasayana.
Rasyanas are the drugs/combinations of Ayurveda which helps in opening the channles. The channels through which food transforms in the nectar of Ojus.
So just focus on the quality, not quantity. And Ayurveda doesn’t believe in increasing the immunity. Please never ever mix several herbs together to make some combination. This might be harmful for you….
