"EkAdasi upavAsam" and this year's Nobel prize..What is the connection? Please read on...
This year's Nobel prize for medicine has gone to a Japanese scientist Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi for his research on autophagy.
Autophagy means to "self eat". In other words, the process by which
the human body eats it own damaged cells and unused proteins. Autophagy
is a natural process and also one which occurs in cases of starvation.
The failure of autophagy is one of the main reasons for accumulation of
damaged cells which eventually leads to various diseases in the body.
Autophagy is important to prevent/fight cancer and also plays a vital
role in degrading and 'consuming' cells infected by bacteria and
viruses.
We have to observe here that ancient India had recommended a
practice of fasting ('EkAdasi upavAsam') one day in a fortnight. Many of
us religiously follow this practice to this day as a penance for
spiritual progress without any idea of the biological and therapeutic
benefits of this practice. Through this process of fasting induced
autophagy, our body repairs its damaged and degenerated cells or use up
the proteins of the damaged cells for its survival.
Whenever
modern science conquers a frontier in any field, it somehow relates
back to a quaint spiritual practice followed in India for generations.
A day in a fortnight spent in prayer and divine contemplation was a
tonic for the mind and soul while the practice of fasting ensured that
the body would heal and rejuvenate itself.
Clearly, our ancients believed in a process of holistic healing of
both the body and the mind. They were able to connect, quite
remarkably, the yearning for spiritual progress in a human being with
the biological necessity of the human body. We cannot but marvel and bow
our heads with admiration and reverence at their wisdom and deep
scientific understanding of the body and the mind.
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