THE MEANING OF THE NAME THE ROLE OF LORD KRS'N'A THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF THE MAHA'BHA'RATA AGE. THE MEDICAL SCIENCE OF THE AGE THE MEANING OF THE NAME official source: Discourses on the Maha'bha'rata cross-references: none this version: is the printed Discourses on the Maha'bha'rata, 2nd edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. Why is the book Mahabharata so named? The Mahabharata is an educative history, and the name of the author of this book is Veda Vyasa. First I will say something about the author. Veda Vyasa was known as Krsna Dvaepayana Vyasa at first. He was born in a fisherman's family. They were living just on the patch of land where the Ganges and the Yamuna join near Prayaga. The area through which the Yamuna flows is covered with black soil, due to which the Yamuna water looks somewhat black. The soil of the Ganges is yellowish, hence the water of the Ganges is Yellowish. The soil of the patch of land where Veda Vyasa was born was blackish (krsna). Due to the black soil, that patch of land was known as Krsna Dviipa. The boy who was born in Krsna Dviipa was thus named Krsna Dvaepayana ("one who lives in Krsna Dviipa"). Because his family title was Vyasa, he was known as Krsna Dvaepayana Vyasa. Krsna Dvaepayana Vyasa was a man of letters. He wrote very many books. He was a great man. The Vedas had become almost extinct then. The Indians of that time were not conversant with the Vedas till the advent of Veda Vyasa about 3500 years ago. It was Krsna Dvaepayana Vyasa who properly edited the Vedas and reintroduced them to the people at large. Therefore he became popularly known as "Veda Vyasa." So the author of the Mahabharata is Krsna Dvaepayana Vyasa or "Veda Vyasa." The Mahabharata is itihasa (educative history). According to the then Indian system books were classified in four divisions -- kavya, purana, itikatha and itihasa. The subject matter of kavya might not be real, but the way of expression is lucid and beautiful. "Vakvam rasatmakam Kavyam" -- stories which were narrated in a graceful language were known as "kavya." Kalidasa wrote kavya. Next is purana (mythology). In it the stories told are not real but have educative value. Therefore it has its value in society. For instance, the Ramayana is a purana. Shrii Vyasa wrote eighteen puranas to educate the people. Astadasha puranesu Vyasasya vacanadvayam Paropakarah punyaya papaya parapiidanam. By writing different stories in the puranas, Shrii Vyasa intended to educate the masses. To make people at large understand that by doing good to others a person acquires virtues (punya) and by harming others incurs vices (papa), Shrii Vyasa wrote eighteen puranas. Next is itikatha. In English this is known as history". Itikatha is a chronology of events. In itikatha there is simply a collection of different happenings. In it the author bothers little about the educative value of the affairs. People at large derive little benefit from knowing the dates of birth and death of different kings. But when and where the society is moving, what turn it has taken at a particular time and to which path it will take, is all indicated in itikatha. In other words, what the condition of society was in the past and what it is at present is all brought home by itikatha. Itikatha is also known as 'purakatha", "itivrtta, "puravrtta," etc, in Samskrta. It is known as "history" in English. Fourth is itihasa. "Iti hasati ityarthe itihasa." The meaning of the root of "hasati" is "laugh." That means, it is illuminating (projjvala). That portion of the itikatha which has educative value can alone be known as itihasa. In schools and colleges the students read Indian itikatha and not itihasa. All history is not itihasa. Dharmarthakamamoksartham niitivakyasamanvitam Puravrttakathayuktam itihasa pracaksyate. Itihasa is that itikatha from which a man gets the fruits of caturvarga -- dharma, artha, kama and moks'a -- as well as a system of the do's and don't's of niiti. What is kama? The desire for mundane objects - name, fame, wealth, etc., is kama. The desire to make efforts to get food and clothing is also included in the scope of kama. The next varga is artha. Artha is that which relieves pain. The pain of hunger is relieved when one buys something and eats it. Hence money is the cause of the removal of the pain of hunger. Therefore money is known as "artha." Similar is the case in the psychic sphere. Suppose you are mentally disturbed when you are not able to know the meaning of something. The moment you know it your mental trouble is gone. Meaning therefore is known as "artha."' So in the psychic field also, "artha" means that which removes pain. The next varga is dharma. "Dharma" means psycho-spiritual development. The fourth varga is moks'a. As long as a person is away from Paramatman there will be some trouble or other whether one is righteous or unrighteous. Pain is finally removed only by obtaining moks'a. "Varga" means "class" there are four classes. The first is physical; the second physico-psychic, the third psycho-spiritual, and the fourth, spiritual. Hence the itikatha which begets the fruits of the four vargas and has the do's and don't's of life in it is known as 'itihasa." So the Mahabharata is an itihasa, the author of which is Krsna Dvaepayana Vyasa. Now let us know why this book is named Mahabharata. When the Aryans came from Central Asia to India, they came first to the Saptanada Desha (the Land of Seven Rivers), which later on was known as Paincanada Desha or Punjab, (the Land of Five Rivers). Next they entered the Kashmir area. There they saw pebbles which were bluish in colour, looking like jambu (a fruit that resembles an olive except for the blue colour). These pebbles were then known as "jambushila" (pebbles looking like jambu). The country in which, jambushila was found was named Jambu Dviipa. At present Jambu is known as Jammu. Jambu Dviipa at that time meant the area stretching from Afghanistan to the Philippines, all of Southeast Asia. There was and still is a fertile land within Jambu Dviipa where food was easily available. The time that the people of that area had left over from work they utilized in psychic and spiritual pursuits. They practised every possible means of psychic development. The patch of land which easily yielded grains was known as Bharatavarsa. The word "bharata" is derived from the Samskrta root "bhar" plus the root "tan. When the root "bhar" suffixed by a "al" is combined with the root "tan" suffixed by "da", the word "bharata" is derived. And the word "varsa" means "country" (it can also mean "year" or "rainy season"). "Bhar" means that which nourishes, and "tan" means that which causes to expand. Food here was easily available to the Aryans as compared to Central Asia, and the extra time at their disposal was utilized in physical, psychic and spiritual expansion. "Tan" means "to expand." The body of a child goes on expanding up to the age of thirty-nine, so the body during this period is "tanu" - that which expands. After thirty-nine the body is known as "shariira" which means that whose nature is to decay. The body decays externally or internally after the thirty-ninth year of one's age. The body of a child is known as "tanu" and that of an adult is known as "shariira." Therefore this patch of land was known as Bharatavarsa. Almost 7000 years ago Lord Sadashiva was born. During His period people were most undeveloped. The then people were partly knowledgeable about medicine, art, architecture and education, but nothing did they do systematically. People never shared their knowledge with others, because they thought that their prestige would be lessened. Thus so many methods of medical treatment and so many crafts were gradually lost due to long periods of disuse. In other words, there was no system for all human endeavours. For song, dance, music, medicine and all other endeavours He gave a system. That means the crude-natured people came under a system, under a pattern, through the efforts of Lord Shiva. Then came Lord Krsna about 3500 years ago, when the war of the Mahabharata took place. People's individual qualities then had not taken a collective shape. People did not know the art of living collectively. The individual qualities that lacked a sense of collectivity were given such a sense by Lord Krsna. Suppose a person has a faculty for medicine. If one's medical knowledge is channeled and utilized in a medical college, this will bring about the collective shaping of one's individual attribute. This applies to all faculties. Lord Krsna wanted to bring about a social synthesis, the seed of which was sown by Lord Shiva. It was seen at the time of Lord Krsna that though Amga, Bamga, Kalimga, Magadha, Saorastra and other kingdoms (Amga Bamga Kalimgesu Saorastra Magadhesu ca) were within Bharatavarsa, they fought among themselves because they had no collective sense. Lord Krsna thought that if He combined all there would be collective spirit in the true sense of the term. Then alone all human faculties would get expanded. He tried to make people understand, but they did not understand, because there was no collective spirit in them as was the case in ancient England. In ancient England there were so many countries, named Sussex, Essex, Yorkshire, etc. Along with these there were Wales and Scotland. At last all combined and made Great Britain. Similar were Amga, Bamga, Kalimga, Saorastra and Magadha in India. Lord Krsna wanted to combine them and make Mahabharata (Great India). To synthesize them all Lord Krsna was born, and to help in the mission of Lord Krsna came the Painca Pandavas, Bhiisma, Vidura and the others. Therefore the book is known as Mahabharata (Great India). 20 August 1967, Ranchi THE ROLE OF LORD KRS'N'A official source: Discourses on the Maha'bha'rata cross-references: none this version: is the printed Discourses on the Maha'bha'rata, 2nd edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. As mentioned before, there were small states in the then Bharatavarsa. These small states were always at war with one another, and the chief reason for the war was nothing but their selfishness. Each state was desirous of expanding itself and thereby consuming others. As for instance, Amga Desha (now the Bhagalpur area) adjoined Magadha, and across the Ganges was Vaeshalii. Towards the western side of the River Sone was Kashii Rajya. All these were fighting among themselves. In between Magadha and Amga there was a patch of fertile land yielding a rich crop of wheat, oil seeds, pulses, etc. Since this patch of land was mostly under water in rainy season, which made the land fertile, it was named Amba Bhumii (the Land under Water). Because of Amba Bhumii there was a constant severe clash among Amga, Magadha and Vaeshalii or Videha. Naturally Amba Bhumii was captured sometimes by Amga, sometimes by Magadha and sometimes by Videha. (You know the persons belonging to Amba Bhumii are known as Ambastha). In the then society there was no collective spirit, no solid social structure. Of course the people were strictly following the systems of art, music, dance, architecture and literature given by Lord Shiva. All respected the ideology given by Lord Shiva, but since the collective spirit was not there, there were Mongolians, Dravidians, Negroids and Austrics living separately. Dharma in the socio-economico-political field could not enter in and hence a solid collective structure could not be made. During the period of the Mahabharata, Lord Krsna realized the necessity of synthesizing all the different states into one and naming it Great India, because He realized that India was scattered into fragments due to the lack of only one thing, i.e. collective spirit. The then India began to have the sense of becoming one as for instance, the Pandavas were Austrico-Aryan and Aryo-Austric. These people were then living in the West Uttar Pradesh area, the present western portion of U. P. and eastern portion of the Punjab -- the present Haryana-Meerut area. These people were the first indigenous Indian population -- the present Jat people. The Pandavas and Kaoravas were Jats. The effort to synthesize all the states had also then started, as mentioned above. For instance, Bhiima was wedded to Hidimba, a Mongolian girl from East India. Krsna was married to Rukminii, a girl from the North Eastern Frontier Area (which is now splintered into a number of states). The wife of Arjuna was Citramgada, a Mongolian girl from Manipur. Hence we see an effort to make a common Indian race ; i.e., the Mahabharata could be made possible in that way. Though the people accepted the supremacy of Lord Shiva, there were different rituals, and dharma sadhana in the true sense of the term was not there. That does not mean that there was no dharmika sadhana. There were even great rs'is and munis. Jarasandha, a king of that time, was performing the sadhana of avidya tantra. Jayadratha, a personality in the Mahabharata, was a Shaeva tantrika Some were Kaolas and some Vaesnavas -- not Vaesnavas like the present, but they had the mentality of Vaesnavas, as for instance Maharsi Garga. Also there was some influence of rituals on the then kings and the people at large. As for instance Kamsa, the king of Shurasena and maternal uncle of Krsna, was a rigid Shakta, an oppressive king. Due to this Maharsi Garga had to hatch a conspiracy which resulted in the victory of Krsna, you may say. Kamsa had banned the entry of Garga into the Shurasena kingdom. There was an order from higher authority to female and male spies (visa kanya and Gaha purusa) to arrange for delicious dishes for Maharsi Garga and to poison them. This was to be done with the intention of avoiding the unpopularity of the king that would result from the arrest of Maharsi Garga. By respecting Maharsi Garga, on the other hand, by arranging for dainty dishes, the king's popularity would only be enhanced. The system of four varnas was simply nominal at the time of the Mahabharata, as it was in the Vaedika age. The system of varnas was only due to war purposes in the Vaedika period. In the Mahabharata age this system got somewhat strengthened. The worldly father of Lord Krsna was Vasudeva, a popular ksatriya leader, being an army commander. But Lord Krsna's guardians, Nanda and Upananda, the cousins of Vasudeva, were known as gopa yadava (milkmen). His worldly father, Vasudeva, was a ksatriya by profession. His guardian, Nanda, was a gopa (vaeshya) ; and his uncle, Maharsi Garga, was a vipra, because he adopted a life of scriptural study, contemplation and meditation. There was no rigidity in the caste system. Some time later the rigidity came into being. The leader of the Mahabharata was neither the Pandavas nor the Kaoravas, but Lord Krsna Himself, both directly and indirectly. It was all foreseen by Maharsi Garga. I will say something more about Maharsi Garga some time later. It was Maharsi Garga himself who named the child Krsna: "Krsna nama rakhen Garga dhyanete janiya" -- in dhyana he realized that Purusottama was to take birth, and he thought it proper to name the child Krsna. 3 August 1967, Ranchi THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF THE MAHA'BHA'RATA AGE. official source: Discourses on the Maha'bha'rata cross-references: none this version: is the printed Discourses on the Maha'bha'rata, 2nd edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. I will now deal with the educational system during the Mahabharata period. In the Vaedika age there was no educational system in particular. Generally students would go to the guru's house, at the age of five, and, completing their studies by the age of twenty-four, would return home. The reason for not having a solid educational system in the Vaedika age was the incomplete establishment of even monarchism at that time. The gurus would maintain their catuspathiis by begging from the public. The students were in turn maintained by the catuspathiis. As the first phase of learning, one should be taught grammar. But in the Vaedika age there was no grammar of the Vaedika language. The Vaedika language was a spoken language. In addition to this, there was no script, and people did not know how to write. Therefore the students would memorize the things uttered by the gurus. This is why a solid system could not be evolved. Since the students were listening to their gurus and remembering the things spoken, the Veda was named "Shruti." "Shruti" means "ear" as well as "to listen " The people in the Vaedika age did not even realize well the value of education, a must for sharpening the intellect. If you go through the Veda you will come across a thousand and one grammatical mistakes, i.e. no grammar had been made. A strong Sam'skrta grammar was made by Panini. Panini, a great scholar and the first grammarian of Samskrta, was a Pakhtoon of the Peshawar area. During the Mahabharata period there was a system in the educational field to some extent. In the catuspathiis also there was some financial solidarity, as the kings as well as the people helped financially. The Vaedika language had died in the Mahabharata age. The language of the people was Prakrta. Though there was no solid written grammar, there was some kind of a grammatical structure. Though everybody would go to the guru's house to study, there were some day-students too. Students from far-off places would live in the guru's house. In the first phase they would learn grammar, then general knowledge of different subjects. After this they would learn the art of operating various weapons, according to their abilities. Those who were interested in learning the shastras were taught them. In the Vaedika era there was division by caste, but there was no casteism at all. But during the Mahabharata period, there was both caste division and some sense of caste, or casteism. Still, intercaste marriages were customary, and in one family someone might be a vipra, someone a shudra, someone a vaeshya, as mentioned earlier. Casteism had not yet entered in. Those who had ability for the use of weapons would study martial arts more than the scriptures. Even a person born in a vipra family could study the use of weapon more than the scriptures if he was interested. For example, there was Drona, who though born in a vipra family, was an expert in operating weapons, since he was interested in them. But persons born in vipra families lost respect if they became very skilled in the use of weapons. There was also a close link between the educational system and the social system, i. e., the society wanted persons coming from ks'atriya families to be expert in military skills, as it was the duty of the ksatriyas to defend the country. The social system was that only the ksatriyas were to defend the country, if invaded ; this resulted in a great weakness of the society, leading to the defeat of India when invaded by outside forces 2000 years after the Mahabharata, wherein the majority of the ksatriyas had been killed, causing a great reduction in their numbers. Logic (nyaya), social code (smrti), Samskrta grammar and the science of spirituality were included in the educational curriculum of the then period. But that which we call philosophy to-day had not yet been born. The oldest philosophy in the world is the Samkhya philosophy of Kapila. Though the Samkhya philosophy was written down some time after the Mahabharata period, the philosophical trend had already crept into the minds of the people of that period. The first world philosophy was formulated in India, and had its preparation on the battle-field of the Mahabharata. As said above, there was neither philosophy nor books in the Vaedika era, but there was spiritual teaching, in the period of the Mahabharata there was spiritual teaching, there were books, but there was no philosophy. After the Mahabharata, people began to think very seriously about the origin of the world, the duties of human beings, on the basis of Lord Krsna's teachings in the Giita. Due to these questions, people created the first philosophy, after getting the answers to these questions. Therefore Maharsi Kapila was after the Mahabharata, not prior to it. In the Mahabharata age education was given through the medium of Samskrta. The Vaedika language was a dead language then. The people's language was Prakrta but teaching was not in the Prakrta medium. Books in Prakrta were also very few. Generally people did not write in Prakrta. The Prakrta language was reformed, and the language which came into being out of the reformation was named Samskrta. Samskrta is not the Vaedika language. After the death of the Vaedika language Prakrta was born. The synthetic language which was made by rectifying the Prakrta language was known as Samskrta. "Samskrta" means "reformed" -- the reformation of the Prakrta language. In the Vaedika age the expression of address was "Bho arya" - "arya" means " respectable." In the Mahabharata age, i. e., in Prakrta, "arya" became "ajja." In that age, after the death of the Samskrta language (meaning here the Vaedika language), there emerged seven Prakrta languages. Towards the east of Allahabad in East India was Magadhii Prakrta ; towards the west of Allahabad and east of Delhi, i. e., in Northern Central India, there was Shaorasenii Prakrta ; in the Punjab, Kashmir and Himachal, i. e., to the northwest of Delhi, there was Paeshacii Prakrta; towards the west and north of this Paeshachii land ( in Afghanistan and South Russia) there was Pashcatya Prakrta ; towards the south of Multan, i. e., in Sindh and South Baluchistan, there was Pahlavii Prakrta ; in Central India Malavii Prakrta ; and in Southwest India, i. e., Maharastra and Goa, there was Maharastrii Prakrta. These were the seven Prakrta languages. But educated persons did not use Prakrta. They wrote few Prakrta books. The leaders of the Mahabharata, the Pandavas and the Kaoravas, spoke in Shaorasenii Prakrta, but they did not write that language. When the Pandavas were talking with Kuntii they used a blended language of Paeshacii and Shaorasenii Prakrta, but when they spoke with a gentleman they used reformed Shaorasenii Prakrta, i. e, Samskrta. Samskrta was not the natural language (matrbhasa) of anybody nor had it ever been. The natural language of Krsna was Shaorasenii Prakrta. With Vasudeva, Nanda and Yashoda He talked in this very language, but with the Pandavas and the Kaoravas in Samskrta. As I told you earlier, in the Vaedika era a gentleman was addressed as "arya." In the Shaorasenii language, the natural language of Krsna, the grandmother of Hindi ( which is a matter of glory for Hindi) "arya" became "ajja." After that, when Shaorasenii died, "ajja" became "ajjii" in Ardha Shaorasenii, the mother of Hindi. "Ajjii" became "jii" in present Hindi. The education in that period was in Samskrta, and people wrote on bhurja leaves, not palm leaves. The famous book of that age is the Mahabharata, a part of which is the Giita. In the Mahabharata age people began to write the Veda, but the writing was completed after a pretty long time. On the Giita we find the influence of only one book or set of books -- the Vaedika Upanisads -- because the only book which could have been called older than the Giita was the Veda, which was not fully written either. The portion of the Veda dealing with knowledge is the Upanisads. You know that the Veda has two portions --the first is Karmakanda and the second is Jinanakanda. In Jinanakanda in turn there are a couple of portions -- Aranyaka and the Upanisads. So the influence of the Upanisads on the Giita and even on Krsna is very clear. And the influence was expressed when Lord Krsna began to answer the complicated philosophical questions of Arjuna. And Maharsi Kapila's Samkhya philosophy is just the philosophical explanation of the Upanisadik Jinanakanda. About two hundred years after the Mahabharata we find in the catuspathiis and in the educational complex of India the teachings of philosophical lore. In that period philosophy meant Kapila's Samkhya philosophy. Though the teaching of philosophy started two hundred years after the Mahabharata, we can speak of Kapila as a contemporary of the Mahabharata, as two hundred years is not a very long period. And in that period, if people talked of a man of letters, it invariably meant Kapila. In the Samskrta language the word "Kapila" has acquired the meaning of "first scholar" (adi vidvan), i. e., it was Maharsi Kapila who first received recognition as being a scholar. During the Mahabharata age the panditas who were teaching in the catuspathiis were helped both by the government and by the public. People considered it to be a sacred deed to help the catuspathiis, which they did with food, clothing, etc, This was something spontaneous. Each pandita was the conductor of one catuspathii, and there was no such thing as a university. Each pandita set up his educational system and curriculum according to his wishes and his own teaching. Each student belonging to a catuspathii was the adopter (dharaka), supporter (vahaka), and patron (pariposaka) of a particular thought. Students connected to different panditas had considerable variation in their knowledge. There was internal clash of thoughts and interpretations in all these catuspathiis, i.e , every catuspathii was a small university in itself. But in the Buddhistic age that was not so. Instead, controlling universities were there. As for instance, in East India there was Vaneshvarpur Vihara University, which is in the Rajasahi district in present Bangladesh. In East India, in Amga Desha, in the Bhagalpur district near Kahalgaon, was Vikramashila Vihara University. In East India, in Patna District, was Nalanda University. Nalanda was the greatest university, the controlling one. Towards the frontier side near Peshawar was Taksashila University. This was also a controlling university. In the Mahabharata period the university system was not set up by the people. The difference between the catuspathiis of the Mahabharata age and the viharas of the Buddhistic age was that the latter were not helped by the public but only by the kings. This had a very damaging effect, as after the end of the supremacy of Buddhism, when Neo-Hinduism came in full swing, all the viharas failed, as none of the kings continued aiding them. So within only one hundred years of the end of the Buddhist states, all the viharas in India ceased to exist. Hence we see how dangerous it is for schools to depend completely on governmental aid. Educational institutions should depend on public help and not on governmental help. There is a well-known word, "chatra." This was first applied in the Mahabharata period to any of the pupils staying under the canopy (chatra) of any particular pandita. As the pupils were under the control of, within the jurisdiction of, one pandita with one school of thought, they were known as "chatra". "Chatra" has now wrongly been used to mean any student. Present students are not chatra. "Chatra" means one who is under the control and jurisdiction (chatra) of a school of thought of one guru. 10 September 1967, Ranchi THE MEDICAL SCIENCE OF THE AGE official source: Discourses on the Maha'bha'rata cross-references: none this version: is the printed Discourses on the Maha'bha'rata, 2nd edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. Now I will tell you something about the medical science in the Mahabharata period. According to ayurveda, when the balance of the body is lost due to the increase or decrease of vayu or pitta or kapha, disease starts. Medicine is applied to restore balance. If the amount of vayu or pitta decreases, medicine is applied to increase it ; if the amount of vayu or pitta increases medicine is applied to decrease it. This is the ayurvedik system of medicine. In the unani system, a similar system of medicine, there are four factors (dhatu) -- vayu, pitta, kapha and rakta. The difference between the two systems is that in the unani system one more factor, i.e., rakta, has been added. The other three factors are the same. In both systems crude medicine is applied and surgery ( shalya cikitsa ) is simply nominal. In the pure ayurvedik system there is no surgery. But the vaedyaka shastra of India which has been incorporated into the ayurvedik system included surgery. And one more system is the homeopathic system popularized by Hahnemann, a great man. In the ayurvedik system and in the unani system the medicine is applied not to treat the disease but to bring about a balance among the aforesaid factors. In homeopathy, too, whose principle is "Samah samam shamayati" (like cures like), the disease is not treated, but the symptom of the disease is treated. No matter whether the disease is diarrhea or malaria, the symptom is treated and not the disease. Moreover, the medicine is applied in a subtle form. It is theorized that the subtle affects the crude, hence subtle medicine is applied to cure the crude disease. The more subtle the medicine, the more effective the result on the crude disease. Allopathic treatment is a direct treatment of the disease. A particular disease is cured with the appropriate kind of medicine. In India at that time, there was a mixture of ayurveda and vaedyaka shastra. But a strange thing is that homeopathy incorporates the visa cikitsa of that era, and through this visa cikitsa people were familiar with the principle "Samah samam shamayati." For instance, the Kaoravas gave poison to Bhiima, and people announced that he had died. But the experts in ayurveda gave injections of poison to Bhiima, by which he was cured. This proves that people had the knowledge of visa cikitsa and the principle "Samah samam shamayati." i.e., homeopathy in an elementary form. Homeopathy was not started by Mahatma Hahnemann, instead it was developed by him. Visa cikitsa is native to India, and its first reference is found in the Mahabharata period. Later on this visa cikitsa was encouraged not by Aryans, but rather by non-Aryans, and South India, especially Malabar, saw it expand a lot. These people attribute the origin of visa cikitsa to Lord Krsna, i.e., visa cikitsa was originated by Krsna. And vaedyaka shastra was originated by Lord Sadashiva. Actually, ayurveda was known to the Aryans earlier than Lord Shiva. But Lord Sadashiva brought about a blending between vaedyaka shastra and ayurveda. But the originator of visa cikitsa was Lord Krsna. In the Mahabharata period, it was appreciated a lot, and people discussed it and practised it by applying different venoms such as the venom of the snake, the venom of the spider, the venom of the scorpion, etc., to cure snake bite, spider bite, scorpion bite, etc. In course of time, it was neglected. At last it had some place in the royal family of Cochin. This system is neglected nowadays, but if it is encouraged, a new system will be added to medical science. Perhaps you know arkavana ( arkapatra ), generally found in a cremation ground. If this is used either externally or internally, the eye becomes defective. But it was discovered in the Mahabharata period that if that same arkavana is used in a subtle form, it is a very good medicine for various eye diseases. The same system of "Samah samam shamayati," i. e., poison roots out poison, is there. Surgery, which is considered to be a part of allopathy, is not really so ; rather it is a part of ayurveda shastra. Since the time of Sadashiva, it has developed a lot. In vaedyaka shastra, it is also explained how a dead body is to be studied by students. The structure of the human body, how to keep it clean, how it decomposes, is all explained in vaedyaka shastra. This proves that surgery was very developed in that period. There is a very interesting example of surgery. The cousin of Krsna (the son of the sister of Lord Krsna's father) was Jarasandha, the king of Magadha, with his capital at Rajgir. At the time of the birth of Jarasandha, the child had to be cut out of the womb. People saw this child and threw it in the cremation ground. Then there came a very famous non-Aryan (raksasii) lady doctor known as Jara. She stitched the child in a proper surgical operation and saved it. Since the lady Jara joined (sandhi) the pieces of the child's body, the name of the child became Jarasandha. This proves that the people were well acquainted with surgery. It is improper to think that everything in India has come from abroad. I have told you that Bhaskaracarya first discovered that the earth was round, and not Copernicus. That the earth is moving was first discovered by Bhaskaracarya and not by Galileo. The law of gravitation was first discovered by Bhaskaracarya and not by Newton. We give incorrect training to children. Hence you see that homeopathy sprang up in India itself. Nor did surgery originate with Aryans, but in India. Suppose there are two persons. If the mind of either of them is stronger, it will control the other mind and the controlled mind will follow the stronger mind. The stronger mind imposes itself on the other mind either directly or by some artificial means indirectly. Because of the effect of the stronger mind, the controller mind utilizes its mental power against the disease and gets free from it. This sort of treatment by hypnotic spell, people say, was started by Dr. Mesmer of France, and so this system is known as "mesmerism." But prior to Dr. Mesmer, this system was known to Indians. In India it was named "raksasii vidya." In ancient India (by ancient India I mean the non-Aryans, the natives of India) there was a non-Aryan lady doctor, Karkatii Raksasii. This raksasii was very famous for her mesmeric treatment. This sort of treatment should therefore not have been known as "mesmerism" -- it should have been known as something different. Hence we find that in the Mahabharata age, there was surgery, ayurveda, vaedyaka shastra, visa cikitsa, and homeopathy ; and people were not unacquainted with mesmeric treatment either. This proves that medical science was not underdeveloped. You can pose the question -- if medical science was developed so much, why was it destroyed? The main reason was that touching the dead body, learning about the physical structure of the skeleton of the dead body, etc, was not considered to be lowly by the people of the early Buddhistic age; but after Buddha, people began to take it as lowly. Touching the dead body was considered to be most undesirable. This affected medical science a lot. Surgery especially was much effected, and because of this all medical science was affected. Six or seven hundred years after Buddha, Buddhists once again discussed medical science a lot and tried their best to develop it But immediately after Buddha it was completely discouraged, and medical science in India had its downfall. Moreover, when people did start to develop medical science, sometime after Buddha, there was simultaneously an invasion from outside India, due to which ayurveda, vaedyaka shastra, visa cikitsa and surgery were discouraged in India and the unani ( hakimii ) System of medicine began to take root. Because the hakimii system was not much cultivated in this country, the downfall of India as far as medical science is concerned, occurred. 17 September 1967, Ranchi