Concept of Prajnaparadh

Concept of Prajnaparadh

Life is a great healing power life not only creates, sustains and destroys, but also heals. At the physical level healing power of life manifests itself as-

a) Self renewal

b) The auto-immune system

Ayurveda says- ‘sheeryate tat shareeram’, the sentence can be explored as – self renewal is constantly taking place in every part of body. Modern research also shows that with the exception of certain brain cells almost all the cells in the body get renewed. This shows that there is never late to regain your health even in old age it is possible to overcome damage to the body caused by years of misuse & neglect, & gain a fresh lease of life by changing ones basic attitudes & the way of living.

The human immune system is one of the great marvels of the universe. Anyone who knows about the processes going on in the body will find no in the words “To me very hour of the day & night is an unspeakably perfect miracle.” -Walt Whitman.

Our immune system consists of four units: the granulocyte- macrophage unit, the lymphocyte unit (consisting of B-cells & T-cells), the antibody unit, the complement unit. First two are varieties of white blood corpuscles, where as the last two are chemicals, proteins. As soon as few bacteria break in to any tissue in the body, the four units of our immune system launch a concerted attack on the invaders. Who masterminds this attack? Who plans the strategy? Who coordinates the logistic & deployment of our internal defense? Somewhere behind all this there must be a master control. But why does it sometimes go awry, as it does in autoimmune disease like rheumatoid arthritis, when our defense unite mistake our body cells for enemy microbes and attack the innocent cells? Why do certain normal cells become malignant & start attacking neighboring cells? Western medical science is trying hard to find answers to these questions.

In the integral view developed in Ayurveda, life is not regarded as restricted to certain activities going on in cells. Rather, life is a universal stream of consciousness power known as Prana. Upanishads says each living being represents a centre around which prana moves at different levels known as Kosa or sheaths. At the core of this multistoried personality structure is the locus of Atman, the true self of man, in the form of powerful light. The upanisads state that just as the spokes of a wheel are fixed at the hub , so also prana & all psychophysical structures are fixed at the atman. The atman is the master controller of the life. The ‘sheath of intelligence’ (vijnanamaya-kosa), also known as buddhi, dhi & heart is where the light of atman is experienced.

The atman though unattached, Excercises its power through will (known as dhriti), which in Indian psychology is regarded as dynamic aspect of buddhi. With the help of the pure will (sattvika dhriti) a yogi is able to all his sense organs, all activities & mind under control, this kind of higher yogic self mastery is of course, possible only for few people who strive intensly for it. But everyone can maintain an inner alertness & some degree of general supervision over all his activities such as eating, sleep, exercise, response to stressful situations etc. it is the failure of this inner watchfulness, known as prjanaparadh or fault of ‘awareness’, caused by ignorance and negligence that makes a preson yield to evil thoughts & deeds, to diseases & ailments. Charak samhita one of the most authoritative books on Ayyurveda, states: What is known as “fault of awareness” produced by distortion of intellect, will & memory, is the cause of the disturbance of the three humors- dosha (vata, pitta kapha). In other words carelessness, lack of alertness, forgetfulness, misuse of will power- this is one of the main causes of the disease. Thus prjanaparadh is the very significant phrase. The root cause of most of the psychosomatic or constitutional disorders is prajnaparadha, the misuse of our cognitive & conative faculties. It is our unconscious way of living that is the primary cause of illness…