Ayurvedic Medical Ethics

Ethics in ayurveda

 

In the three classic tests of Charaka, Sushruta and Vagbhata there are no separate sections on ethics. But ethical concepts are ever-present and an ethical undercurrent runs through all the texts. To distil the ethical content from these large texts is as difficult as extracting sugar from a cup of sweetened milk. One can only attempt to present gleanings from here and there to give a flavour of the ethical spirit which animates ayurveda.

Bioethics and ayurveda

On human beings as part of nature; their lives in harmony with nature; the kinship with all forms of life and so on, ayurveda has plenty to say. Consider the panchabhuta doctrine, so central to ayurveda: it says that the universe consists of five elements that are the stuff of the stars, earth, oceans, all living beings and everything that exists. These are, of course, not the elements of the periodic table, but substances that are perceived by the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The sensory experience constitutes the basis of physical reality or nature - what is extrasensory may or may not exist, but that is not part of nature. According to ayurveda what exists in the human body exists in nature and vice versa, and their interpenetration and interaction are constant and continuous. The homology between the universal macrocosm and human microcosm was carried to extraordinary lengths until humans were regarded as cosmic resonators. Hurting nature was no different from harming oneself, and reverence for nature was ingrained in the practice of medicine.

Health and disease

Ayurveda laid a great deal of stress on good health and its maintenance, even as it laid out its elaborate encyclopaedia on diseases and their management. Health was regarded as a state of equilibrium that was sustained by a number of component equilibria. These included the equilibrium of the tissues of the body; of doshas or functional units; of fires that burn in the tissues and bring about changes such as food into tissues; of the body and its surroundings, and so on. The human body was designed to maintain this equilibrium, which was its natural state. Any deviation into disequilibrium, which we call disease, was largely brought on by one's own misdeeds, and it could be counted upon to resolve and return to equilibrium automatically. All that the physician could do was to give a helping hand in the process. His task had less to do with the removal of a cause, which was, according to ayurveda, not the primary objective of treatment. Causes exist within the body and without, but they are not necessarily pathogenic. They become pathogenic only when the equilibrium is breached by the imprudent conduct of the individual. Nor is it possible to sanitise the body and environment of causes. Then why stress upon a cause to the exclusion of other considerations? Thus argued the ayurvedic texts.