Vayu/Pitta, Vayu/Kapha, Pitta/Kapha, and a combination of all three (tridosha). Although finding the cause of an illness is still a mystery to modern science, it was and continues to be the main goal of Ayurveda. Six stages of the development of disease were known, including aggravation, accumulation, overflow, relocation, a buildup in a new site, and manifestation into the recognizable disease. Modern equipment and diagnosis can only detect a disease during the fifth and sixth stages of illness. Ayurvedic physicians can recognize an illness in the making before it creates more serious imbalances in the body. Health is seen as a balance of the biological humors, whereas disease is an imbalance of the humors. Ayurveda creates balance by supplying deficient humors and reducing the excess ones. Surgery is seen as a last resort. Modern medicine is just beginning to realize the need to supply rather than to remove, but still does not know how or what to supply.
Additionally, there are over 2,000 medicinal plants classified in India’s materiamedica. A unique therapy, known as pancha karma (five actions), completely removes toxins from the body. This method reverses the disease path from its manifestation stage, back into the blood stream, and eventually into the gastrointestinal tract (the original site of the disease). It is achieved through special diets, oil massage, and steam therapy. At the completion of these therapies, special forms of emesis (vomiting), purgation, and enemas remove excesses from their sites of origin. Finally, Ayurveda rejuvenates—rebuilding the body’s cells and tissues after toxins are removed.
