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T.R. Reid: If you were talking to someone who knew nothing about Ayurveda and they said, "How is it different from Western medicine?" how would you explain it?

Dr. Ram Manohar: I think Ayurveda and Western medicine originated in entirely different cultural paradigms, which nurtured radically different world views. So, the basic difference lies in the epistemology, the very approach to knowledge-building. I would say the most primary thing is that Ayurveda looks at the human personality as composite of the body, mind and self. This is very central to the approach of Ayurveda. The human personality is considered as a dynamic manifestation of interactions between the mind, body and the self, whereas Western medicine seems to be more focused on the body. And the mind is just an epiphenomenon of reactions that take place in the body, and the self is almost a nonexistent entity.

Whereas in Ayurveda, the mind is given much greater importance than the body. The body is the shadow of the mind, as far as an Ayurvedic physician is concerned. So, this makes radical differences in the way an Ayurvedic physician approaches a patient and tries to understand disease and health.

Q: Western medicine generally relies on established scientific authority. What is the source of authority in Ayurveda?

A: In Ayurveda also we have mechanism for kind of validating knowledge. So, just like in modern science, there is this concept of scientific authority. Ayurveda believes that knowledge is generated out of experience through a process of validation. And this validation takes place through two things. There is a validation by authority, by individuals who have the training and the background to validate knowledge, plus the tools of validation.



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2 -part very excellent video - enjoy