Shortcomings of Ayurveda every devotee should know
The downsides of allopathic medicine led many to look for alternative forms of medicine, and for devotees, Ayurveda is obviously a favorite. However, it is also far from perfect.
Allopathic medicine can cure many diseases quite quickly. That's its main positive point, as noted by Srila Prabhupada on a pair of occasions. However, allopathic medicine has two flaws: the first is that it is mainly a reactionary form of medicine, which often tries to cure disease instead of improving health. The second is that it depends on chemical drugs that have side effects and are often very expensive to develop and produce. If we think of the broader context of a golden age of 10.000 years that is supposed to start, allopathic medicine is probably not the way to go in the long term.
The downsides of allopathic medicine led many to look for alternative forms of medicine, and for devotees, Ayurveda is obviously a favorite.
Ayurveda, however, at least on the way it's practiced nowadays, also has its shortcomings, and one should be aware of them to be able to get the best of it.
The first problem with Ayurveda is that most Ayurvedic doctors are not very qualified. This may sound harsh, but Keshava Ananda Prabhu, who is himself a qualified doctor, makes the point that many young Indians become ayurvedic practitioners after failing to enter medical school. Being interested in using Ayurveda to make a living, instead of going deep into the knowledge, they just look for quick solutions for common diseases, abusing the system. They usually limit themselves to superficial diagnosis and the prescription of commercial ayurvedic medicines from Dabhur and others, which they also sell for a profit. I met many such doctors in India (and a few in the West), and I was not very impressed by their level of knowledge. That's what led me to start studying something myself, so I could take care of my own health.
There are some qualified ayurvedic doctors, but they are rare. These are doctors who usually make their own medicines, insist that patients radically change their diet and habits, and insist that treatments should be followed for long periods of time before a definitive cure may be achieved. You may find a few old Kavirajas in India or a few devotees who studied the science deeply, but honestly, they are not so numerous.
True Ayurveda is based on four principles:
1- Ahara (Proper nutrition)
2- Vihara (Proper activities)
3- Achara (Proper lifestyle)
4- Vichara (Proper thoughts)
In other words, Ayurveda is based on changing one's habits in terms of the food he or she eats, the type of activities performed, where one lives, how one sleeps, the thoughts one nourishes, and so on. In other words, Ayurveda is not just a system of medicine, but a lifestyle. It is less about curing disease and more about restoring health and avoiding becoming diseased in the first place. I have been sharing some principles from the Ahara line in my posts, and of course, we can practice a lot of Vihara, Achara, and Vichara by properly following the spiritual process.
The great problem with most ayurvedic doctors nowadays is that they try to use Ayurveda as a substitute for allopathic medicine, using medicines to cure diseases without dealing with the underlying causes. Abused in this way, we are left with an impoverished and largely ineffective form of "Ayurveda" that can actually do a lot of harm. In the search for quick cures, many doctors became fond of medicines containing mercury, lead, or even arsenic, compounds that are obviously dangerous. The whole issue of Prabhupada being poisoned started exactly because of a Kaviraja who prescribed him a medicine containing mercury. Prabhupada was feeling quite unwell for a few days and started complaining that someone had poisoned him. Fortunately, he recovered after a few days, but he eventually passed away due to other health issues.
A number of other devotees who submit to treatments using dangerous medicines also end up being poisoned, and in other cases, insistence on ineffective treatments can lead to complications or even death.
If one is looking for ways of changing one’s lifestyle and improving the foundations of their health, Ayurveda can definitely help a lot. If even after doing everything right, one still becomes sick, the right Ayurvedic medicines can surely help. However, if one is fond of living in a polluted city, eating industrialized food, and nourishing all kinds of unhealthy habits, and is looking for a quick fix for numerous health issues, then Ayurveda is probably not the right system of medicine.