Natural wholesomeness of the body, mind and spirit is called health. The contact of life with unpleasantness is called disease. Improvement in health status of the population has been one of the major thrust areas in social development programmes of the country. The approach of health sector development in the country has not been sufficiently integrated with Indian Systems of Medicine. The hazard of modern medicines is attracting the scientists to search an alternative, system being safe and harmonious and they are turning towards Ayurveda and Yoga globally.

Ayurveda literally means the science of life. Being an applied science, Ayurveda aims to understand the individual & cosmos as well. To contemplate the evolution, dissolution and entity of the universe along with salvation or liberation are the summum bonum of the philosophy. Our seers postulated many facts and Ayurvedic classics became the repository and the compendia of Caraka & Susruta came into being in aphoristic style but a number of views were applied in Ayurveda, which were observed in the Philosophy.

Ayurveda has got its own philosophy and under that great umbrella, cosmogony & Cosmology, theory of Panca-mahabhua, Dosa-dhatu-Mala siddhanta, theory of Rasa-Guna-Virya-Vipaka Prabhava, Tastes – its combination & permutations along with the origin of disease and alike material is admonished.

To understand the theme of Ayurveda, preserved in the ancient texts, one has to be familiar with the maxims (tantrayukti), defects of treatise (tantra-dosa) inclinations (tacchilya), base of meaning (arthasraya) and devices (kalpana) as they are very helpful in textual meaning and scientific exposition. Some basic principles and devices are also included from the Grammar, Poetics, Philology and Phonetics.

Prof. Dr. Yogesh Chandra Mishra, the author of the present book "Ayurveda Kriya Sarira" is an eminent scholar, a distinguished professor, devoted to Bhartiya Sanskriti and an authority on the subject. He has systematically arranged the subject in a continuous series of sections, which follow each other as a link in its part of a complex subject. The book is a boon to those who cannot understand Sanskrit or Hindi and find it difficult to follow the original Sanskrit literature.

I congratulate the author for writing this book, which people are searching to know more about Ayurveda. May Almighty bestow upon him the strength and potentialities so that he may continue his writing work for the benefit of the society.

About the Book

The present work 'Ayurvediya Kriya Sarira' by a well known scholar and author of repute Prof. Dr. Yogesh Chandra Mishra, is a complete and comprehensive treatise, which deals with the various physiological aspects of human body. This is the first book is English which deals with the subject in all completeness and clarity, covering the various unique aspects of Ayurvediya Sarira Kriya Vijnana and also points out where it differs from the modern physiology. The 'Swasthya' according to Ayurveda is not mere the balanced state of a few physical and chemical entities as the happiness of manas and atman is the precondition of the holistic health, but the modern medical science does not accept the role of the soul atma (Soul) in health and treatment.

The another problem is regarding the translation of technical terms. Ancient Ayurvedic treatises are available in Sanskrta language and the exact translation of all the words in English or in any other language is not an easy task as the power and meaning of the words may differ according to their practical use as abhidha, laksna and vyanjana, decoding (not only translation) of the various terms used in various references is an important but somehow a difficult job. The author has tried his best successfully on both of the points.

The book, no doubt, will prove as most useful asset to the U.G. and P.G. students and research scholars of Ayurveda. It will also prove helpful to all those, who are interested to peep in the basic fundamentals of the science as well as the art of living known as Ayurveda.

The author, being a senior professor in the subject of basic principals of Ayurveda, with a good background of sanskrta language and philosophy, the book bears a rare blend of conceptual authenticity, linguistic clarity and philosophical based scientific temper. No doubt, it is an unique attempt to fill the gap in the field of Ayurvedic literature.