Homeopathy, Ayurveda and Indians

Its been 27 years since I started practising classical “Holistic Homeopathy,”

so I decided why not I explain these two queries in greater detail.

So you see dear friends Homeopathy originated in Germany in the 18th Century, it was discovered by a Physician by the name of Dr.Samuel Christian Hahnemann, and therefore it got popularized initially in the western side of the globe and later was brought to the Commonwealth countries. It’s the British who popularized Homeopathy all over India, sometimes even at the cost of Ayurveda. Yes, they were our Invaders But the essential philosophy of Homeopathy, is very similar, to the essential philosophy of India and the Indian system of healing Ayurveda. So Homeopathy, which was brought in by the invaders took roots in India and has flourished over time. In fact today some of the best Homeopaths of the world come from India.

In India, during British Raj there was a French Doctor by the name of Dr.Martin Honigberger, Who treated Maharaja of Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and then he went to Calcutta and started his homeothic practice. He helped a lot of cholera Patients so was called as the Cholera Doctor.So one can say the credit of popularising Homeopathy goes to Dr Honigberger.

So the essential philosophy of Homeopathy believes that any disturbance or dis-ease starts first starts at the level of the spirit then percolates to the level of the Mind and then gets expressed at the level of the body as signs and symptoms, And it is the skill of a Homeopathic Physician to decipher these signs and symptoms and come out with a perfect remedy.

When Homeopathy started getting popularized there were two kinds of people who popularized homeopathy there were the lay people who started studying Homeopathy as a Hobby and started many charitable clinics , they did a lot of good work for the spread of homeopathy and humanity, and then there were the main stream Physicians or mainstream Allopaths,who got converted to homeopathy and started practicing Homeopathy, this credit goes to Dr. Mahendra lal Sircar, from Kolkatta, He popularized Homeopathy among the main stream Physicians of India.

So somewhere around 1973, the Government of India established the Central Council of Homeopathy, to look into the matters regarding Homeopathy, As time passed homeopathy became more and more popular ,so somewhere in 1983 the Government of India again started University degree courses in Homeopathy. These courses were unique, they were very integrated, they brought the clinical knowledge to homeopathy.

This Degree is “BHMS” which is what I have, Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery. Now what does this course teach? In this five and a half year university degree course we do everything from Anatomy to physiology to general medicine to Gynecology to surgery. Yes, in the Bachelor of Homeopathic medicine and surgery one studies everything that an MBBS doctor studies.Only in the fifth year where they study their Pharmacopeia, we study our Materia medica.

Such qualified Homeopaths then become medically trained homeopaths, but even today there are medically non-trained homeopaths, what’s the difference between the two? The knowledge of homeopathy is the same for both, but a medically trained homeopath has further clinical knowledge, in the sense, his diagnostic skills are better, than the medically non-trained homeopath, therefore in the western side of the globe, a lot of countries have now made it compulsory for medically non-trained homeopaths to either practice with the mainstream physician or general practitioner or with the a medically trained homeopath, so that there are no diagnostic errors.

Now what do you mean by diagnostic errors. Let me explain further, let’s say there is a Asthmatic child who comes to Homeopath for consultation, the oxygen level of Asthma children when there is a bronchospasm, drop very fast, sometimes, you have to pick up these clues.If a doctor is medically trained. He is able to pick it up and act quickly, to give some remedy to increase the dilation of the bronchi, so that the air goes in and the oxygen level goes up.

You see there is truly no competition between this pathy and that pathy, sometimes in emergency you do need mainstream medicine, there is nothing wrong in it, there is no fight among traditional pathies as well , so you see traditional Chinese medicine comes from China, they use the herbs from China as medicines they also use acupuncture and acupressure , Ayurveda comes from India which uses the Indian herbs, Unani comes from the middle east and Jamu comes from Indonesia, from India also comes another system of medicine the Siddha system of medicines, many a times people feel there is a fight between all this, homeopathy from Germany, Ayurveda from India,TCM from China.
No It is not like that, it is the patient who is most important, Sometimes patients tell me that they are not able to have the very very bitter TCM or Ayurvedic medicines, they would prefer me to give them the homeopathic medicines, because you all know how homeopathic medicines are sweet, and they are very easy to carry around, but they would prefer the Ayurvedic massage or the TCM acupuncture, and I am absolutely ok with that.
It is together we can work towards the betterment of our patient, can’t we? That is the whole idea, because all traditional medicines believe in the trinity of the mind, body and the spirit. Yes, they believe that the disease is only when there is an imbalance in the Trinity, and a physician and his medicines are not meant to take over the human system, the human system is fully capable of rectifying itself.Traditional medicine believes in supporting the human system to help it on its way to recovery.
But please understand traditional doctor are not miracle workers, so when patients come to traditional healers, they expect miracles, that’s not possible.I always tell my patients, if your illness has taken 3 years to develop you at least need to be patient for 3 months for any recovery to happen .At the same time, you also need to be perseverant in your treatment. Two key things which are needed in homeopathy, or any other traditional therapy is patience, and perseverance ,only then will you start seeing results.
Its a myth that homeopathy is not valid in acute conditions .Homeopathy has great results in even things like fever, sour throat, etc .

Honestly as I am writing this article , I am having a painful throat, and I am taking my own medicine, I can even tell you which one, I am taking Hepar Sulph. Yes, this medicine will give me quick effect, the fever will come down as fast as a Panadol And I am not joking, if the illness has taken 3 days to start you can give me 3 hours to show you recovery, of course, that means you also have do lateral things, like manage your diet, follow other complementary therapies to benefit you. If you have a sour throat and you go out and eat an ice cream and say “Hey Dr.Priya your medicine is not giving me relief,” well, I always say I am not a magician, we both work together the you and me, to help the you recover, yes, so it is 50% you 50%me, together we are going to work towards recovery.
Now, what is difference between homeopathy and other traditional medicines, let’s understand . You see, other traditional medicines use the herbs in their essential form, let’s say for instance in TCM they use Ginseng root, the Ginseng root is used as it is, we also have homeopathic Ginseng, the homeopathic Ginseng looks nothing like a Ginseng root, in fact it is either in a liquid form or in those little sweet globules form, that is because, in homeopathy, we take the Ginseng root, and energize it is via a process which is known as a potentization (succussion or trituration) . Now what’s that well a topic in itself, which I will address some other time.
Similarly in Ayurveda let’s say they use onion to treat some ailments, well in homeopathy also we use onion as one of our medicine and it is called allium cepa and it is used to treat exactly the symptoms you would get if you chop onions, your eyes water, your nose leaks, kind of like flu, well allium cepa is one of the best medicines for flu, but the medicine is again in its energized form, you take a bottle of allium cepa, or the pills, and smell it, it’s nowhere close to the smell of the onion, because it is all in an energized potentized form.
That’s the classical difference between all other traditional medicines, and homeopathy, because of this energization homeopathy is dispensed in very small quantities ,little pill or drops in very small quantities.

Many a times after I question patients a whole lot during the first case taking of one and half hours and then give them a teeny weeny bottle of medicine ,patients look at me perplexed and ask “only this much?” .Well it is energy packed bottle of medicine and therefore it requires a lot of good care and handling to retain energy and again that’s the topic by itself, which I will address some other time.
So i think i have clearly explained to you ,How ,Where homeopathy started and how and Where it settled in India. If you have any further questions related to homeopathy, do reach out to us and we will be more than happy to answer them. (priya@naturenurtures.net, Tel: (65) 6841-4705 Mobile: (65) 9664-7657)

On that sweet note, here’s wishing you health and happiness. thank you.