According to Ayurveda, this great science was passed down through Oral Tradition for millions of years.** For now, we’ll just mention briefly that in earlier ages on this planet, the capacity for memory, physical strength and all other faculties of a human physiology were said to be much greater.
Oral Traditions are common in traditional bodies of knowledge, and it is no different with the Vedic tradition. It is indicated in the Ayurvedic literature that for some time Ayurveda was a science that remained in the cosmic realms of this Universe, and was brought down to this planet from the Heavens through the great Sage known as Atri. Atri taught and propounded this knowledge to the great Sage Atreya - who in turn passed it onto his six students. This is said to have taken place over the course of many millenia.
One of Sage Atreya’s students, Agnivesa, who was said to be Atreya’s most devout student, was the first human being to make the effort of putting into writing this great science. He was compelled to do so for one primary reason: the slow and inevitable degradation of human consciousness and life on Earth. It is well known across many traditions that this Earth progresses through great cycles - known as Yugas (more on this in the Vedic philosophy section).
In foresight of this planet entering into a more challenging period, it was time to take the knowledge and immortalize it as much as possible in the form of written scripture. Some scholars estimate that roughly 8% of the Vedic knowledge is available today in the form of scripture - others would contend that less than .001% is - given the dynamic nature of Truth. Here we are of the opinion that Truth is Truth, and what is available on Earth today in the form of scripture, techniques for spiritual development across many great traditions and organizations, and a spiritual awakening across the world - we are in a position now more than ever to know and experience the Truth of all things, including but not limited to the great science of Ayurveda.
We are not limited by the available literature of Ayurveda for yet another reason. In truth, the lively presence of this science on Earth today is largely due to
1) The great family traditions that have safeguarded and passed down this timeless knowledge throughout the millennia
2) The efforts of those great Seers and Masters of the Vedic tradition - both living and no longer with us in the body - to keep Vedic knowledge alive
The purpose of this article is to inspire wonder and to give great Honor and Thanks to those great beings that have kept this knowledge vital and useful to humanity. The innumerable healings, improvements to the life-paths of individuals and society, as well as the invaluable support this knowledge gives to an aspirant of higher consciousness are appreciated by us all, throughout time.
Thank you
**To appreciate this, we must stretch our minds a bit to accept the possibility of a different version of human history than the one that is conventionally accepted. You’ll find a more detailed presentation of the Vedic perspective on the history of this planet in our Vedic Philosophy section.
