Revisiting Koshas - From A Healing Perspective

The allopathic system of medicine is related to the annamaya kosha, the physical layer. For all problems related to annamaya kosha, allopathic medicine is the best cure. Allopathic treatment plays an amazing role in all sorts of problems related to annamaya kosha. Injuries caused in accidents occur in the annamaya kosha. Intensive care, emergency care, etc are available in the treatment of annamaya kosha. It is only allopathic remedies which are useful for treating fractures and other injuries related to accidents.

The trouble starts when the layers beneath the annamaya kosha need to be treated. After trial and error with various medicines, people realised that close to 90% of illnesses were psychosomatic in nature, and it came to be accepted that allopathic medicine was not very effective for it.

Today, research on mind-body medicine is happening at a very fast pace in the world of medicine. People have begun to explore the deeper, subtle layers that are inside the physical body.

Research is being conducted on the manomaya kosha, looking deep inside the physical body, the annamaya kosha.

The physical body, which we think of as solid, is not solid at all. It is like this: The Cosmic energy is all-pervading. The various living forms, such as trees, animals and the human body, are actually different forms of the same energy.

How is it that this cosmic energy is available in various forms, yet remains one?

Let us understand this with an example.

Suppose you have a picture of a wave that is six to twelve feet high. Is this wave a truth? No! It had just risen, when the picture was taken. The next second, it would have fallen. But how huge it looked when it was at its peak! But the very next second, the same wave ceased to exist. Only in the picture, the wave seems like an independent object. Apart from the photograph, the wave would be part of a continuous motion.

Similarly, we see various objects only through the mind. We are able to see objects independently only due to the presence of our mind. If we did not have the mind, we would not be able to realise the boundary between our own body and that of a chair that is present in front of us. Everything would be seen as a whole.

People who have slipped into deep meditation say that suddenly they feel they have totally lost their self. This is because the mind becomes still. This is the case of man going beyond the mind. This is the experience when you go beyond the manomaya kosha.

One more thing: Allopathy can cure the problems that affect the outermost layer of the human body. A person has to go for allopathic remedy to fix a broken bone. However, after it has been plastered, for the actual healing to happen, the energy play has to be addressed, nurtured.

There is a popular quote amongst the doctors: 'Doctor Stitches, God Heals!'