Let’s find out how India can play a role in fighting the coronavirus pandemic
Bengaluru: Instead of thinking and taking concrete steps to stop the ever-growing threat of the spreading of coronavirus pandemic; intellectuals, economists, politicians, organizations/institutions, etc. are worried about the damage and loss to the economies and the ups and downs/growth and decline of GDPs by organizing online seminars everyday. The intellectuals and economists are busy calculating whether there will be growth or decline by 2 % in GDP, whether America will remain as a super power or China will take over, while some intellectuals are picturizing that China has become victorious to be the superpower without firing even a single round of ammunition. Some intellectuals are trying to establish India as a superpower by getting inspired with the manner she has handled/taken care of this pandemic. Some intellectuals are advising to follow the style of ancient rural administration which according to them is the best.
However, there are only a few discussions about saving the humankind from this pandemic, and how to face these types of pandemics by making the human body strong and immune to fight against them. Millions and billions of rupees are spent (wasted) to invent/develop vaccinations but nobody is interested in discussing/talking about keeping the human body healthy according to the ancient medicinal therapies without wasting anything.
In Ayurveda, diet has been given ultimate importance to manage/live a healthy and robust life. What to eat, what not to eat, how much to eat, when to eat, what to eat in a particular season/weather, what is the importance of fasting, when to fast has been laid down in Ayurveda by the ancient rishis. By following these, they lived long (eternal) life, and we also can live the same life if we follow it. Ayurveda makes our diet/food the medicine wherein every moment is related to the well-being of our health.
The whole world is struggling to save the humankind from this pandemic. In America itself, ten lakh (one million) people have been affected and more than fifty one thousand deaths have occurred. The European countries are also facing the same situation.
For every one hundred thousand infected, the ratio of deaths is above 300(0), whereas in Belgium it is more than 400(0) deaths. In highly developed and economically sound countries like the UK, only those who are in a critical condition are admitted to the hospitals for treatment. The situation is such that even when a person has specific symptoms of coronavirus, he has to stay home until he becomes critically ill. In hospitals, corona test is done only to decide whether that person should be kept in corona ward or general ward. The test of the infected person’s family members is out of question. In this situation, let us draw our attention towards what is happening in India. Health officers are going from home to home to survey if anybody has cough, cold, fever, and if anyone is suffering, then the whole family is tested and diagnosed. If anyone found positive with the symptoms of this virus, he is sent to the designated hospital for treatment and the whole family, society, building block, area is put under quarantine and separated from others. In the second phase, people are randomly checked in different areas. It will be disgraceful and full of prejudice to say that India has shortage of equipment and lack of technology, and the tests are not conducted accordingly. There are negative minded people like media persons and the leftist who have grudges against India and portray the image of India in a negative manner by telling that India does not have proper infrastructure to fight this pandemic thus, not giving the right figure of people infected.
Even if we believe that the testing is not done as expected and taking it as partially true then, according to the huge population of India there would have been deaths of hundreds of thousands people by now. However, this is not the scenario in India as compared to America and the European countries where thousands of people have died. The death rate in India is not even half of a single day death rate of these countries. Most of the deaths occurring in India are due to their previous chronic and critical illnesses. On the contrary, in the western countries, it is being observed that the death rate is very high in all age groups which don’t have good physical immunity and who are weak mentally. The western world will have to study this specialty which increases the immune power of the human body and the reasons why this is being possible.
This is the strong immunity of the Indians which the western world should adopt to save the lives of their peoples. The reason behind this strong immunity is the Ayurveda which the ancient rishis tested in all the aspects of life for thousands of years and after this they cultivated a particular lifestyle to help us to live in any difficult circumstances or situations which is prevailing now. Ayurveda has made all the medicinal herbs and vegetation as our daily diet which includes turmeric, ginger, black pepper, cumin seeds, coriander, asafoetida, garlic, tulsi (Holy Basil), mulethi (liquorice, also spelt as licorice), cardamom, cinnamon, etc. which are extremely healthy and have become a part of our day to day diet. There is no need to study specially to gain this knowledge. You just have to turn to your grandparents as it has been passed on from generation to generation in India.
Nowadays, this scientific knowledge of Ayurveda is being accepted by the western world but, they think about this knowledge as trash to demote Indians thus, skeptical in accepting it as scientific knowledge. For example, the golden milk sold in America is nothing else but milk with turmeric powder.
The western world should accept this ancient knowledge of Ayurveda and help their peoples to fight against these types of illnesses. There is not any special authority over these Indian medicinal herbs provided the western world or any other country of the world claim and patent it as their own. On the contrary, India is ready to help the world with its knowledge.
The peoples of western world have already accepted yoga, a part of Ayurveda, which is helping them physically and mentally. In this same manner, if the western world accepts Ayurveda medicines then, they will be able to fight against these types of pandemics and be able to avert and control the deaths of their peoples.
The western world has started infecting the young generation with fast foods which are very harmful to the human body. In Indian tradition, having fresh food or fresh cooked food all the time is very important, beneficial and healthy for the human body. Corona pandemic has proved that it does not differentiate between the rich and the poor, the king and the subject, and there is nothing sure but death.
Last Updated May 8, 2020, 3:09 PM IST