Health and health care--a Hindu perspective

In the Hindu tradition, 'health' means the continued maintenance of the best possible working of the human body under normal, and sometimes even abnormal, environmental conditions. Hindu religious teaching on healthy living and ethical considerations culminate in spiritual objectives if the injunctions contained in the system are followed. Hatha yoga is a system of bodily care that is conducive to such health, which also corrects disease via the regulation of muscular action and in other ways. Other systems of medicine, such as Ayurveda and other traditional systems in Hindu culture, have been devised for the good of humanity. It is, however, the holistic approach to health in Hinduism that calls attention to such causes of ill health as climatic extremes, bacterial attack, nutritional deviance, stress, and other forms of emotional imbalance. A state of good health is within the reach of most persons if they cultivate habits that are conducive to physical and spiritual well-being. The concept of preventive medicine is probably also based on the tenet that the attainment of good health is a religious duty, and corresponding injunctions are found in abundance in Hindu scriptures. It is not the training of students in the medical profession that is most important for health care, but rather their concern for health and their willingness to apply themselves to the observation of the rules they would wish their patients to observe.