Volume 19, Issue 3

By Soumitra Basu - Oct 15, 2011

Despite its limitations, the materialistic mindset of mankind has served humanity by the light of its rationality, the clarity of its intellect and the discriminatory power of its logic. If this mindset were not there, we would have been unable to rise above superstitions, unrealistic ideas, obscure habits and irresistible dogmas, camouflaging falsehood with an appearance of truth and an excuse of tradition. This rationalistic tendency of materialism has been most explicit in the area of health and well-being. It has reduced the rates of morbidity and mortality, raised standards of healthy living, improved the material quality of life, prevented scourges and epidemics, countered environmental hazards, corrected nutritional deficiencies and rehabilitated the physically and mentally challenged.

By Martha Bhaskar Rao - Oct 15, 2011

Long before modern medicine came into existence, there existed in all countries a knowledge of herbs that helped in various ways. The very fact that humanity has survived critical transitions, wars and famines is itself empirical proof of the value of these herbs. Now that we are realising that modern medicine pays a heavy price, there is an attempt the world over to dig into the lost secrets. This search is not without difficulty. It is like learning an entirely new language. Our present knowledge sometimes becomes a bar. The ancients saw the world differently: they felt and experienced it in another way, a way we have lost but whose trail still lingers in our memory, energising us to undertake the same journey from our present point. This article tries to bridge a gap that is the need of the hour.