IAF to focus on resurrection of traditional concepts for healthy society: Dr CA Kishore

Dr CA Kishore, President of the city based India Ayurveda Foundation is a multifaceted personality apart from being an Ayurvedic doctor by profession. In a freewheeling interaction, he ponders over the ailments haunting the society at large and proposes several activities towards ensuring a healthy society and thereby a healthy country. 

Excerpts from the interview:

Can you introduce yourself and your activities?

Dr CA Kishore: I have basically come from a rural background while I did my graduation from Hubballi and did my MD in Internal Medicine i.e. Kaya Chiktsa in Ayurveda. Later on I did my Master's in Nutrition & Dietitics ,PG in Journalism and Mass communication persuading my Ph.D in Sanskrit as of now. I am practicing Ayurveda from the last 22 years in Bengaluru and my specialty is all about chronic disorders.

Dr CA Kishore

How do you wish to view the present day’s patient-doctors connection?

Dr CA Kishore: I would wish a patient or a health care person to enter into my fold with prevailing disease for more than three months. In Kannada, I won’t call a patient as a ‘Rogi’, but an ‘Arogya Sadhaka’ for the reason he has to see that his health is rejuvenated to a better extent. The core responsibility of a doctor is not to see more patients in my perspective. According to me, we have to train the patients in such a way that their diet and lifestyle is in the best manner so that they don’t enter into the fold of the doctor, clinic or medical facilities in the perspective of a patient. And if need be, the treatment has to be done in a right way and the best way is to communicate, to convince and to console a patient and just not to give medicine. It is always a four folds thing, the primary thing is diet, lifestyle and the third thing is the mindset and last if need be for a small tenure of time medication, if at all it needs to be done.

What, according to you are ideal characteristics of good health?

Dr CA Kishore: WHO usually says, complete well being of social, mental, financial aspects are parameters of good health. In the same manner, when it comes to Ayurveda with a background of five thousand years, two verses in Sanskrit express the beautiful explanation of health:

Sama Dosha Sama agnishscha Sama Dhatu Mala Kriyaha

Prasanna Aatma Indriya Manaaha Swastya Ityabhidhiyate

Tranquility of tridoshas i.e. vata, pitta and kafa; sama dhatu i.e. saptha dhatus in tranquility, namely, Rasa, Raktha, Mamsa, Medha, Asthi, Majja, Shukra; Trimalas, i.e. Sweat, Urination and Mala(defecation) need to be normally and periodically. Sama Agni, jataragni the digestive fire has to be in normalcy. Basically, life is all about eating and meeting. Whatever you eat has to be converted into energy and the dhatus are the useful parts of the nutrients that we consume as a daily part of dietary schedule has to be absorbed. And non absorbed parts or toxic parts within the body have to be eliminated periodically. This is Part A of a person being healthy.

The second thing is Prasanna Atma Indriya Manaaha Swastya ityabhideeyate which means to say tranquility of soul. Indriya, the sense organs, and manas, mind. This is also very important for a person to be healthy. When this objective is fulfilled a person for sure is to be healthy.

What is the life span, if one adheres to typical Ayurvedic life?

Dr CA Kishore: Usually people will question us, what is the life span if we follow the principles of Ayurveda; can I live for a hundred years for sure? Shatayushya was a dream concept of every individual especially in a country like India. But today, because of stress, our changed lifestyle, we wake up to the sunrise of some other countries especially doctors including me, police personnel, security personnel, driving personnel, software people, we work against the nature.

What is the difference in the lifestyle of our ancestors’ and us?

Dr CA Kishore: Contrary to what our forefathers said and practiced we are working against the biological rhythm of what the body says. So many unknown disorders and diseases are engulfing us at a very young age. A lot many diseases, orders, including diabetes which was once called as a rich man’s disease or a lazy man’s disease or a disease which can enter into a person quite elderly is now coming at a very young age, i.e. MODI diabetes, not Narendra Modi Ji. It is Maturity Onset of Diabetes in Young. So gestinational diabetes, juvenile diabetes is occurring and more rampant in present days compared to diabetes which was once called an elderly mans’ disease.

Why has there been a mushrooming of Cancer hospitals all around?

Dr CA Kishore: We have to pay attention to lifestyle disorders today and when it comes to Covid, lot many cancers’. If I can give you an example, Bengaluru had only one Cancer hospital two decades back. Today, almost every Pin code has a Cancer hospital. I don’t blame the upcoming of hospitals’ but I blame the lifestyle of the commoner wherein which you have accepted that the Pizza should reach faster than an ambulance will reach our house. With this sort of the mindset, definitely lot many disorders and diseases and upcoming conditions are going to flare up and this is the time in which we have to alarm the upcoming generation on the importance and impact of preventive health.

Who, according to you is a real doctor?

Dr CA Kishore: So, once health is lost surely a repairable state but not a recoverable state, for which we have to be very cautious and have social responsibility. The greater role of taking care of health at all levels is dependent upon three people, initially by the mother, secondly by the teacher, thirdly, lastly and to a greater extent by the physician. So, if someone believes that a doctor is seeing any number of patients or more number of patients a day and is considered as the most successful doctor, I disagree with that. A doctor who is friendly with the whole community in his area, yet seeing the least number of patients in his domain is the real doctor doing the greatest service to humanity in my perception. This is my personalized opinion and perception.

What, according to you are the main factors for present health problems?

Dr CA Kishore: I entered Ayurveda by choice and not by chance. So, having a Masters Degree in Ayurveda, being into Journalism, being into Nutrition and Diabetics, and trying to learn more and more and being a student of Sanskrit now, I always sees that tradition has to be revisited in the right way and the olden people according to my perspective, they were simple, statistical, sensible and sincere in their dietary protocols while we have not understood of what concepts they would practice. If the traditional practices would have been unfolded in the right way, right time and the right people, so many problems wouldn’t have bloomed up in the present situation.

How do you define sickness and reasons for the same?

Dr CA Kishore: If, you ask me the definition of sickness, it’s nothing else but eating too much whatever you get and wherever you happened to get it. So, when this happens what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, what to eat and what not to eat; having such demarcations will definitely will lead you to good health. In Kannada, there is a proverb which says ‘Angayalli Arogya’ which means your health is in your own palms and to ensure that, you also need to be aware of the differences between the palm and mouth. You should understand them well, executed well and made others understand well.

These days, people go for health check ups’ and end up becoming patients?

Dr CA Kishore: Health education, wellness education and infotainment, information with entertainment, both infotainment is a word which I use very responsibly has to be done. And what is not to be done, most of the doctors are ethical, very professional. Certain times, we as patients enter into the fold of medical terrorism which is very unfortunate. We get terrorized by new words, new concepts, and new investigations. And most of the times when you enter into a lab, anticipating a positive reply and healthy report you come out with a report wherein which you fall prey to four specialists! You enter into the lab as a healthy individual and come out as a patient to four super specialists and that is an arena that is to be questioned, foreseen and addressed to.

Is competition among different medical sciences taking a toll on the people?

Dr CA Kishore: As an Ayurveda man, if you ask me about the competition, interactions with other pathys’, I always say any pathy, it may be Homeopathy, Allopathy, and Naturopathy what is lacking, what has to be there, what is still not there at this point of time is empathy and sympathy towards the patient. Once, this is subjectively and objectively achieved, I think India, definitely was healthy, is partially healthy now and for sure shall be completely healthy in the days to come.

What’s the motto of India Ayurveda Foundation?

Dr CA Kishore: The main motto of the India Ayurveda Foundation or Bharateeya Ayurveda Prathishtan is to see that resurrection of traditional concepts is being unveiled and revealed to the concerned people in the right manner and the right way. It also emphasizes to remove the debacles and misconceptions the commoner has and try to see that he is being well educated as to what his forefathers’ dietary concepts were. They did not have money; olden people might not have money in terms of liquidity, cash and things like that. But, they did not die poor, they would give basic education, culture, good nutrition, send their wards to the society in a very healthy way and such children would produce equally healthy offspring’s and the society would be healthy.

Q: What about the activities of the foundation towards a healthy society?

Dr CA Kishore: The basic activities of the India Ayurveda Foundation are resurrection of traditional Ayurveda. The second important perspective from the point of Ayurveda Foundation is resurrection of Ahaara, Samskara and Samskruti. What a father should give you today are these three things. Unfortunately, we expect and anticipate sites, gold, property etc etc and as a complimentary thing we also get baldness, diabetes, hypertension. When we need a beautiful legacy from our forefathers’, we should take a healthy legacy from them as well.

-Manohar Yadavatti