Ancient wisdom and modernity: A holy nexus

11 June, 2014

Traditional wisdom of Yog; ayurved; herbal medication and host of other issues has been stymied by the time period. It needs to be revived for our and nation's sake. This will empower people and help the nation to be healthy and rich.

It is well known that the ancient Indian scriptures had lot of wisdom stored in them. However neglect of Sanskrit and failure of our masters, probably by design to belittle the mighty civilisation and subdue it has been an ongoing process till very recently. India had been ruled by foreigners or weak, fragmented rulers for almost ten centuries and this has also led to the decay in our thought process and civilisation. This needs to be rectified and earlier the better.

India's weakness in poor documentation and less belief in scientific approach and research have been the second reason for the decline.

Course correction to overhaul the decay and neglect of thousands of years is a gigantic task and requires herculean effort. Cynicism by western educated experts and vested western industry would be the biggest obstacles in the way ahead.

The course correction should be undertaken in the following stages.

Stage 1

Translate the scriptures into authentic versions in all Indian languages and have these uploaded in E-library. Plenty of retired people can help with minimal costs.

Stage 2

Discover new herbs and shrubs of medicinal values since lost and help cultivation of the same. In the hill regions of J&K, HP, UK and tribal have a good knowledge about herbs which is not known to mainstream intellectuals. Collecting these would give a huge repository and retrieval of wisdom passed down the ages.

Stage 3

Research and development followed by proper testing of Yoga benefits and Ayurved and other Indian systems of medicines. Lay down norms akin to ISO for testing the medications.

Put the tested practises/medicines through Indian formulated ISO norms.

Stage 4

Introduction of the proven systems/items into the Indian way of life. Introduce with governmental organisations and then in the open market.

Benefits

Planting medicinal, ornamental and commercial plants in the barren hills; foothills; wastelands,

backwaters, astride roads/canals/railway lines, parks in the cities as part of jobs-growth-empowerment and dovetailing into the overall design of environments would create millions of jobs.