By: HG Rasamandal Das
A one-day seminar on the theme of Panchagavya Ayurveda for Leading Healthy Life was conducted in Hyderabad. The event was organized by IDVM-India in cooperation with SAVE organization, Bharateeeyam and Venugopala Swamy Mandir Goshala.
The main speaker at the seminar was Acharya Mehul Bhai, who holds a PhD in Ayurveda and Darshan philosophy. Acharyaji conducts these programs on regular basis and is involved in various Gurukulas. The guest speakers were Jananivas Das, Ramesh Sagar, Vijaya Ram and Amma Mathaji.
The topics which were covered were: glories of gaumata and Panchagavya/Ayurveda references in the Vedicscriptures; Ayurveda Paramapara; and Authentic Books on Ayurveda. Children’s health issues post immunization and other diseases of children and use of Panchagavyain their treatment. Women’s health issues garbhavignan, infertility, etc., and use of Panchagavyain overcoming these health issues. Men’s health covering ideal regimen for an active and healthy life and use of Panchagavyaproducts.
Mehul Bhaiji said that to learn authentic Ayurveda one has to learn Sanskrit and Nyay Darshanfirst. Then to understand Ayurveda one has to read and understand Panchkosha, Pancha Bhootaand Sankhya philosophy. By reading this one learns about Atma, Body, Senses and Praana. Only then he is eligible to learn Authentic Ayurveda. There are four Angasin Ayurveda: Aushadi, Paricharak, patient and Vydya. The two important things among the four Angasin Ayurveda is Vydya and Aushadi. To learn Ayurveda one has to go through the Gurukula system because it is interlinked with different Vedic sastras like Jyotish, etc. He quoted extensively from various scriptures including Charaka Samhita and Bhagvad-gita to emphasize the significance of Panchgavyain our lives.
What manifests throughout his presentation is the intimate relationship that exists between all living beings both in the warp and weft of sambandha. He subtly explained the whole science of relationship that exists among the living beings (especially the human beings) and came to the point that it is all centred around Mother Cow. The relationship is so intimate and inseparable as it is an aàça(part and parcel) of Lord Kåñëa’s love for the conditioned soul, even in its separated state from the Lord. The seminar highlighted how the whole lifestyle is to be so organized that Mother Cow remains in the centre of everyone’s life and without understanding this culture our very existence becomes one of suffering in terms of health, economic development and ultimately spiritually also. The human form is precious because it can attain the düré-bhütänya-darçanaù, which means that when one attains perfect Kåñëa consciousness he does not see anything but Kåñëa. All the endeavours ultimately have to culminate in elevating the consciousness so that the entrapped Jiva goes home back to Godhead. On the spiritual plane the koçasare:
The cow is also as beneficial as one could draw out religious principles from her, but she is now rendered poor, without any calf and being beaten by the leg of a Sudra, she is too much distressed with tears in her eyes and being too weak she is hankering after some grass on the field. Srimad-Bhägvatam1.17.3
“Foolish people do not know how happiness is earned by making the cows and bulls happy but it is a fact by the law of nature. Let us take it from the authority of ‘Srimad-Bhägvatam’and adopt the principles for all round happiness of the human-kind.”Çréla Prabhupäda purports to the above verse.
Different living beings are situated in different consciousness, some are satisfied in the matter of eating and sleeping, they are on the annamoya stage. Pranamoya means those who can simply survive in the struggle for existence. Manomoya means philosophical speculation. Jnanamoya means self-realization, vijnanamoya means application of that stage in practical life, and when there is the right perfection of life that is anandamoya stage or Krsna Consciousness. [Çréla Prabhupäda letter to Tamal Krishna – Los Angeles – May 1, 1970.]
The speakers from ISKCON IDVM-India comprised of Jananivas Das and Sri Rama das. Jananivas das spoke on the historical background of previous world wars and hinted at the probability of a third one due to large scale cow slaughter. Our likely weapons would be:
- Educating and using cow products (Panchgavya) and cow-based farm products in our daily life for creating increased demand for it.
- When there is an increased demand, farmers will switch over to cow based farming for that we need to educate the farmers.
- Shifting our line of medical treatment from allopathic to Panchagavyabased, time-tested treatments as will be presented in the Seminar.
- Re-instating the Vedic Gurukula education system for a holistic growth of the child.
He highlighted the need for continuous education programs covering various aspects of gau seva and alternatives to modern living. He also explained ISKCON’s efforts in this direction by visiting villages through the Sri Govinda Gau-gram prachar yatrato 108 plus Villages. Sri Ram Das explained about the Sri SurabhiCampaign launched in 2015, its objectives and activities. He also mentioned about the launch of iOS version (the earlier Android version was released in India on January 15, 2018 called Sri Surabhi Mobile App),in USA on May 20thwhere Dr. Subramanya Swami (Member of Parliament), Mehul Bhai and Damodhar Dulal prabhu (ISKCON Minister for Cow Protection) are likely to attend.
The participants at the seminar were amazed at the grass-root level activities being pursued by ISKCON-IDVM (India) and its interest in joining hands with organizations spearheading the activities relating to serving Mother Cow and other services. We could reach out to many participants about ISKCON’s role in creating a peaceful world through spiritual education and the significance of saving cows, villages and our Vedic culture. IDVM members also met enthusiastic young people and farmers and they felt happy about our activities and invited us to visit their villages and organize the programs like that of Gau-gram prachar yatra.
Although there were incessant rains in the morning, a reasonably good number (around 200 participants) turned up for the seminar. A sizeable number of ISKCON devotees also participated.
Vasudama Das worked for more than 15 days to coordinate with other organizers and participants. Rasamandal Das assisted in various services and Satya Madhav Das, Satyahita Das and Sravan Mangala Das organized the books and cow products table. A good number of Srila Prabhupada’s books, Varnasrama related books and cow products were distributed.
A Question & Answer session ensued at the end of presentation which witnessed very enlivening and interesting exchanges.
