YOGIC SCIENCE vs MODERN SCIENCE

Modern medical science has made phenomenal developments during the last 50 years. Such medical progression in the biological functions at the cellular and molecular levels have led to astonishing achievements, both in the fields of medicine and of surgery. Many sophisticated investigative and surgical techniques have evolved. The electronic gadgets are supposed to provide us the magic eye that tells all about the patient without the doctor touching him. In the world of Telemedicine, the use of Telecommunication and Information Technology that provide clinical care at a distance has really been a magnificient achievement of the modern medical science.

The discovery of miracle drugs like sulphonamides of thirties and penicillin of the forties and several other antibiotics, corticosteroids, along with vaccines and serums have been a great amelioration of the suffering of humanity especially during life- threatening emergencies. These drugs have undoubtedly been of remarkable service to the ailing community, where they can often kill bacteria or germs with chemicals. In acute emergencies and accidents, surgery has proved to be an highly effective intervention. But in situations where the disease is the result of a defective lifestyle due to lack of exercise and relaxation, excessive stresses, improper intake of food, and smoking, the role of medicine or surgery is inadequate. Decoding the human genome has been the greatest discovery of life science on earth. With genetic engineering, medical science is in a position to manipulate, replace, or repair our genes and it will be within the reach to heal in a perfect way. 

Unfortunately innovations and material progress have not contributed a great deal to Lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, coronary artery disease, and degenerative syndromes. In 1969 it seemed that medical science had won the battle against infectious diseases. Today, scientists are alarmed to notice that the germs are becoming resistant to conventional antibiotics and they do not have any potent medicine to kill these resistant germs.

In modern medical science, considerable attention is being paid to the germs but very little attention is being given to the body in which they grow. Sophisticated and investigative scientific methods of laboratory knowledge are undoubtedly of immense help to the suffering humanity, but it is also a hard fact that this approach is threatening to displace the art and science of healing. Moreover, many diseases at an early stage have only symptoms and subjective signs and cannot be analysed in the laboratory. Also the microorganism does not behave in the same manner in different individuals and their reactions also vary according to the vitality of the patient concerned. It is therefore important to have a holistic approach in order to cure a disease which requires a study of constitutional disordes as advocated by the ancient science of Ayurveda. 

The yogic therapy adopts a holistic approach since in reality, the entire body is considered to be constituted of subtle waves of intelligence which connect every system of the body along with the mind. The whole body is thus a single unit constituting our mind body system. 

It is true that the ancient sages developed science of yoga. The ancient science of yoga has always maintained that health from the yogic point of view is related to the state of ones personality and not limited only to ones physical aspects. Ayurveda advocated the interrelationship of yoga and medical science for the prevention and treatment of diseases. Modern medical science however has only recently become more and more interested in the yogic science. 

Scientists from the Western world started visiting India around 1920 to study the effect of yoga on the physical body. They were astonished to find that some people were able to stop their heartbeat almost to zero counts and could stop their respiration as well. In 1981, French doctors met Swami Satyananda Saraswati at a hospital in Paris to discuss the role of yoga in combating heart disease. They decided to integrate the modern technological developments of medical science and yogic understanding of human psychology. Since then, many controlled trials have been made all over the world. The results were found to be of great help in psychosomatic, degenerative, and heart diseases. Since then, many world-renowned nuclear and space scientists have felt that there is no other better way than yoga to control one's mind. Now the whole world is getting more and more seriously attracted towards yoga.

More than 500 research papers all over the world on transcendental meditation and its effects on physiology, psychology and sociology have been published and the observations have been found to be highly astonishing. American physiologists Robert Keith Wallace has conducted valuable research on the physiological changes that occurred during transcendental meditation. He found indications of deep rest along with the wakeful orderliness of the states of brain functioning, decreased metabolic rate, decreased minute ventilation, decreased heart rate and increased basal skin resistance.

Several other research papers have also confirmed the above noted findings. Several other studies have shown indications of restful alertness, increased orderliness and the integration of brain functioning. 

Improvement in patients with asthma, hypertension, insomnia, coronary artery disease and many other stress-related disorders have been reported by various investigators. Thus medical science is now convinced about the deep rooted efficacy of yogic practices.

But it needs to be emphasized that it must be practiced under the guidance of an expert yoga teacher and not from books or by an inexperienced yoga practitioner. It is also essential to have full medical check up by a qualified medical practitioner who will decide whether the yogic or medical treatment should be the first line of approach. Many yoga therapist jump straight to yogic therapy when medical therapy would prove faster and more if efficacious.It is also for the medical practitioner to decide as to when medicine can be reduced and yogic practices relied on for health and healing. Hence it requires integration of medicine and yoga for human Wellness.