Encounters with Ayurveda: Deepak Budki

 

Encounters with Ayurveda

My first encounter with Ayurveda was about five decades ago. I was suffering from piles and my uncle in Jammu suggested I consult an Ayurvedic practitioner at Kalyan Pharmacy, Parade, Jammu. I did so and the practitioner, an old man, gave me some medicines. While leaving the pharmacy I remembered I had a fungal infection in the groin area which had bothered me for a long time. There was an itchy rash, redness all over, often blood used to ooze out and a lot of discomfort. I had consulted many allopathic doctors but there was no cure. So I asked him if he had any medicine for the infection in my groin. The old man gave me a handful of seeds almost resembling mustard seeds and asked me to mix them with mustard oil and apply it on the affected parts. I used the medicine at home but after applying felt as if some acid had been poured on the area. I almost ran helter-skelter in the room not knowing what to do especially because the area was sensitive. Immediately I cleaned it with a dry hand towel and found the pain subsiding. The next day I tried it again and this time the pain was much less than experienced the day before. That encouraged me to apply it for 2-3 days more and the rashes vanished thereafter. Suffice it to say that ever since I have not had such a fungal infection again. 

As regards my piles, one of my subordinates knew a famous Ayurvedic practitioner, Mr Ved Vishnu Datt in Jammu and took me to him. While he asked me about the problem he also enquired about my habits. I frankly told him that I smoke a lot, drink occasionally, am a non-vegetarian and am addicted to tea. My daily consumption of cigarettes is around 2-3 packets and that of tea is around 20-30 cups. He told me to stop smoking and drinking tea forthwith. I replied that I could stop smoking but could not give up tea, that was next to impossible. He asked his helper to put all the medicines back on the shelf and quietly told my subordinate who was accompanying me that I had no intention of getting cured therefore it was no use taking the medicine. His coaxing worked wonders. I gave up smoking and drinking for a long time and was cured of my piles which had reached a stage where a Surgeon would have advised me to get them operated upon. 

That reinforced my faith in the Ayurvedic way of medicine.

There were many more occasions when I had to consult Ayurved practitioners. As CPMG, J&K, I had gone to Ladakh for a visit during the Kargil war and my blood pressure went up suddenly, Since that day the problem of high blood pressure has continued. Gradually some heart functioning and vascular functioning also got impaired. Since then I have been under regular treatment of Cardiologists. Later during my posting at Vadodara, I came across an old Ayurvedic practitioner, aged around 82, who prescribed some costly medicines and assured me that things would be alright in about 3-4 months. And he was right. Afterwards, I was posted in Goa where I consulted a Cardiologist who said there are no anomalies noticed in the Heart or arteries as such but I must continue with medicine for high blood pressure without fail. So it firstly confirmed the assurance of the Ayurvedic practitioner at Vadodara and reassured me of the recovery made. That was not all. The same practitioner cured my son of the acute partial headache he had been experiencing for a long time for which a CAT scan had also been done and Cluster Migraine was confirmed. That was a miracle. He gave three packets of powdered medicines and advised us to give them to the son before sunrise besides ensuring that he did not sleep till sunset. I was astonished as to what had headache medicine to do with sunrise and sunset? But then beggars can't be choosers, so we administered the medicine to him for three days as per instructions. Can you believe that the ailment evaporated forever? No more headaches. A few more ailing relatives were also referred to him and got cured.  Unfortunately, I lost contact with the practitioner after some time due to postings to different corners of India and my cardiac problem resurfaced due to anxiety and problems which I faced subsequently. Could not find another Ayurvedic practitioner of similar repute. So now totally dependent upon the Cardio-vascular surgeons in this regard. Yet I do at times take Arjunarisht and Prabhakar Bati of Baidyanath in addition to normal allopathic medicines and at times consult the doctors of Baidyanath online. 

Recently due to the age factor, I have been inflicted with Prostate enlargement for which I have been consulting the Urologist for more than three years. Suddenly I found several Ayurvedic medicines for prostatitis on Facebook. I have a strong faith in Baidyanath and therefore preferred to take their medicine Prostaid for almost three months. The problem has been cured to a large extent and polyurination and profuse urine passing have been largely controlled. It has given me a lot of relief. 

However, here I want to add a few words of caution: 

• Firstly, there is no system of standardisation of medical practitioners in Ayurveda or Unani medicines. The system has been operating on a hereditary basis for ages. We must consult a practitioner who has developed goodwill over time and is reputed for his professional acumen. Now even Ayurveda and Tibia Colleges have come up but I found that the standard of such doctors carrying their degrees is not of desirable quality.
• Secondly, Ayurvedic practitioners make medicines locally that they give to patients without revealing their content and constituents except when they additionally prescribe some branded medicines of companies available in the market. Therefore the patient does not know about the medicine given to him which the doctor keeps strictly secret and passes on to his heirs. 
• Thirdly, many manufacturers have started publicising herbal medicines because they found a great demand for them. The advertisements are often exaggerated and misleading. Here I may refer to the case of Patanjali. I had a lot of respect for Baba Ramdev till such time he remained confined to popularising Yoga within and without India. His diversification into manufacturing Ayurvedic medicines may have been inspired by the demand favouring herbal treatment but I never imagined an illiterate unqualified person claiming himself to be a business magnate who was keen on showing his acumen for amassing wealth. His goodwill as a Yogi helped him. Besides the Governments, both the State and Central extended all types of concessions to him. As per Peter's principle, every person rises to a level of incompetence and he was no exception. Imagine Ramdev and his disciple, Acharya Balkrishna with no qualifications whatsoever diversifying from herbal medicines to Consumer goods of daily use like Noodles, flours, biscuits, oils, Masalas, Nutrients, cosmetics etc and trying to outsmart MNCs. Since the market in FMCG is huge, it accommodated his company, Patanjali too and the Company progressed day in and day out mainly banking on the goodwill created by him in the Yogic field. In so doing Baba Ramdev came out with tall and incredible claims about his products esp during the time of the COVID-19 epidemic when he introduced products claiming to cure infection due to Coronavirus and that too without any research. Ultimately he got caught. I wish our Judiciary (not to speak of the Executive (which is in hand and gloves with such fake peddlers) would take more punitive action against not only Baba Ramdev but other multinationals as well which claim their products work wonders. I wish to add here that such attempts by fake peddlers will damage the faith people have in age-old Ayurveda. which is a time-tested system of healthcare.
• Fourthly, as the demand for herbal medicines has outgrown supply and the resources are limited i.e. the vegetation having medicinal qualities is restricted, therefore some companies are adulterating their products to cater to the demand. I would recommend that products of only reputed companies should be relied upon.
• Fifthly, Ayurveda medicines try to cure the organs and their functioning over some time and not instantly as is done by Allopathic medicines. It aims at total cure, therefore, it is advisable to continue your allopathic medicines in case you are having serious ailments and take ayurvedic medicines as supplementary till some marked improvement is achieved. 
• Lastly, it is better to consult good Ayurvedic practitioners after enquiring about their reputation. In the case of Companies, some reputed ones only should be relied upon and their doctors can be contacted online if need be. 

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