Ayurveda is one of the great gifts of the sages of ancient India to mankind.  It is one of the oldest scientific medical systems in the world with a long record of clinical experience to validate it.  However, it is not only a system of medicine in the conventional sense of curing a disease.  It is also a way of life that teaches us how to maintain and protect health.  It shows us how to both cure disease and to promote longevity.  Ayurveda treats man as a ”whole“ – though at the same time viewing the person as a combination of body, mind and spirit.  Therefore, it is a truly holistic and integral medical system.

The word ”Ayu“ means all aspects of life from birth to death.  The word ”Veda“ means knowledge or learning.  Thus ‘Ayurveda’ denotes the science by which life in its totality is understood.  It is a science of life that delineates the diet, medicines and behavior that are beneficial or harmful for life.

Ayurveda originated in the very beginning of the cosmic creation.  Indian philosophers state that Ayurveda originates from Brahma, the creator of the Universe.  Brahma is not a mere individual but the unmanifest form of the Divine Lord, from whom the whole manifest world has come into being.  The desire to keep fit, healthy and live long is found in the basic instincts of each organism.  In this respect, Ayurveda is the paradigm for other systems of medicine.  Hence, Ayurveda is a tradition with an antiquity concurrent with that of life itself.