The Ramayana, an ancient Vedic story, explores the life and journey of an incarnated deity known as Raam. Raam’s legacy is too great to summarize here, but one important aspect of his incarnation is that he vanquished the great demon-king Ravana. Ravana’s life brought great suffering for the people of this Earth. He was seen as a plague, conquering many realms of this Earth and even beyond. Described as short-sighted and selfish, he thought only of himself as he took from others what he willed.
A great saint of our age, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, once described cancer as “the Ravana of the human physiology.” Cancer of all types essentially involves the debilitated intelligence of a set of cells. These cells multiply, taking what they need at the expense of the host and causing damage to surrounding cells and tissues. These cancer cells operate intelligently, and we can liken their existence to that of the demon-king, Ravana. In the same way that we compare cancerous cells to Ravana, we can compare the intelligence required to kill cancer cells to Raam—and this also indicates the fundamental approach Ayurveda takes when dealing with cancer.
What Is the Cause of Cancer according to Ayurveda?
In Ayurveda, the human physiology is governed by cosmic, inner intelligences known as the three Doshas (Vata, Pitta, and Kapha). In their balanced state, these intelligences maintain health in the mind-body system, and in their imbalanced state give rise to disease.
In the case of a simpler condition, such as mild acid reflux, we would treat the underlying Dosha (in this case, Pitta), and also provide natural medicines which work to reduce acid. Although cancer is a more developed imbalance, the essence of the underlying approach is the same. We begin by treating the imbalanced dosha (which in the case of cancer, is all three doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha). At the same time, an Ayurvedic practitioner would prescribe specific natural medicines which work to strengthen our immune system and support its natural ability to kill these cancer cells.
Why the focus on the immune system? Something many people don’t know is that almost everyone has cancer cells in their body. However, they exist in small amounts and are regularly being killed off by our natural immunity. This points to the reality that our immune system is indeed capable of keeping our body cancer-free if only the cancer cells aren’t given the type of environment they need. Cancer cells thrive in acidic environments and need the same types of fuel that any cells require (glucose and oxygen). But to proliferate, cancer cells also need a weakened immune system.
In our own ways, many of us tend to boosting and strengthening our immune system. Often, people diagnosed or recovering from cancer have already implemented beneficial measures to boost their immunity, but additional specialized care can go a long way to progress their healing.
Is Cancer Curable by Ayurvedic Treatment? Ayurveda and Cancer Treatment
The Ayurvedic treatment for cancer management is to repair and restore the cells and tissues of the body. To do so, we seek to re-enliven the inner intelligence and immune system and create a more natural and healthy lifestyle and diet. Each of these works to enliven the quality of intelligence of Raam required to vanquish the Ravana of the human physiology. Since this is a more complicated condition, it’s important to note that this approach must be highly individualized and is most effective when working in conjunction with modern medicine. Ayurveda can help to ease the symptoms, discomfort, and speed up recovery from the more intensive modern cancer treatments.
The role of Ayurveda in cancer management is most often harmonious with modern medicines and procedures, but this needs to be evaluated with each case. If you have an interest in incorporating some Ayurvedic medicine for cancer treatment to support your healing journey, please consider signing up for a consultation.
Disclaimer: Always seek modern medical care from a licensed medical professional for serious medical health conditions. The statements in this article are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent cancer or any other medical conditions and have not been evaluated by the modern medical community. This article is providing a perspective on this condition from the ancient, traditional system of Ayurveda and does not aim to replace the modern medical practices for treating Cancer.
