Think about our universe and the incredible intelligence that underlies everything about it. Do you ever wonder about the unseen intelligence that moves the planets around the sun, blood and nutrients around a human body, and electrons around the nucleus of an atom?
What about the intelligence that governs the effortless coming and going of the seasons and tides, and the creation, evolution and dissolution of all life forms?
Inherent within this infinite, cosmic intelligence are various ‘laws’. We have laws of gravity and electromagnetism, laws governing genetics, biology, chemistry, our human physiology, digestion, metabolism, rainfall, animal migration. In fact, everything in life is governed by specific, universal, and eternal 'laws of nature'.
Now imagine that all of these 'natural laws' were known in their most primordial, seed form. It would be like an cosmic encyclopedia or textbook for life.
This knowledge has been known … and it known as Vedic science.
The word Veda literally means knowledge or more accurately, 'pure knowledge'.
Vedic Science is the knowledge of the universal, immutable laws of nature that structure and govern all of life.
Vedic Science covers (at least in seed form) every area of life.
Some of these include Vedic Architecture known as 'Sthapatya Veda', Vedic Astrology, known as 'Jyotish', and Gandharva Veda, the science of music and sound for balance in life.
* One of the great contributions the great Vedic scholar, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, made to the field of Vedic science, was in bringing all the various fields back into one holistic understanding. In this he outlined how there are 40 aspects or branches of Ved and the Vedic Literature (Vedic science).
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or Ayurvedic Medicine, is commonly thought of as the traditional system of health-care in places like India and Sri Lanka. This is true, but the real understanding of Ayurveda is seen from its place within Vedic Science.
Ayurveda is the knowledge of the universal, eternal laws of nature as they relate primarily to health, daily routines and herbal medicine etc.
From its sanskrit roots, 'Veda', meaning ‘pure knowledge’ or science, and 'Ayus', meaning 'Life' or lifespan, Ayurveda, at the level it is truly known (the level of cognition by the ancient rishis or seers), is literally a complete science of human life'.
Ayurveda comprises 9 of the 40 branches of Vedic science, and is recognized by the World Health Organization as oldest, continuous system of health-care in the world. Although popular throughout much the world today, a lot of traditional Ayurvedic knowledge has unfortunately become fragmented and even lost. (Thank largely to the foreign invasion of India some decades ago and the subsequent suppression and destruction of much of its traditional Ayurvedic wisdom!)
The importance of Consciousness/Transcendence
One key loss of wisdom was the fundamental importance of consciousness and the primary need for transcendence in health and healing. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, also went to great lengths to re-establish this critical aspect of Ayurveda, emphasizing that the ultimate source of our human physiology, is the unbounded, inner field of 'consciousness'.
Thus, only by understanding how consciousness gives rise to the laws of nature governing health and physiology, and even more importantly, the technologies to experience and enliven consciousness, can one truly practice Ayurveda and promote its ultimate goal - life in accord with natural law.
Ayurveda is a cognized science – no-one thought it up
Another key understanding in relation to Ayurveda is in its origin. While many people associate Ayurveda with ancient texts (commonly said to be 6000+ years old) and imagine them sitting on dusty old bookshelves, in reality, Ayurveda, as with all Vedic science is a consciousness-based knowledge.
Unlike Western science, which is based on isolating specific aspects of life or health (which change every week depending on which aspect you look at – dairy, chocolate, red wine are good because they have ‘abc’, dairy, chocolate, red wine are bad because they have ‘xyz’), Ayurveda is a cognized science.
The laws of nature do not exist in books, they exist eternally at the basis of creation, in the unbounded field of inner consciousness.
Vedic knowledge is the knowledge of consciousness.
It is the 'revelation of reality', gleaned by the enlightened ancient rishis (seers of reality) who through their own highly refined nervous systems and higher states of consciousness could literally experience the primordial, natural laws (sounds) at the basis of creation … thus revealing the 'cardinal truths' of life.
As the famous vedic aphorism says, they were able to …
“Know that by which everything else is known.”