Abstract

REVIEW OF MANA AND MANAS ROGA FROM CLASSICAL AYURVEDIC TEXTS

Vd. Archana A. Kulkarni* and Vd. Rashmi Arvind Kumar Dohare

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Abstract

World Health Organization defines “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. According to Ayurveda, an individual who is in a state of equilibrium of body‟s; Dosha, Agni, Dhatus, Mala kriya (Physiological functions of excretions etc.) and whose Aatma (soul), Indriya (senses) and Mana (mind) all are happy, is considered as a healthy individual. The body and mind when in state of equilibrium are responsible for our overall well-being while an imbalanced state results in disease. Thus from both sciences we get to understand the importance of mental well-being along with physical. Sattva (mind), Aatma (soul) and Sharir (body) together are considered as the triad of life. „Mana‟ is described among the nine Karan Dravyas. It is an „Amurta dravya‟ which has no physical form but its existence is determined by its activities. „Mana‟ has three components i.e. Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. The latter two i.e. Rajas and Tamas are the Doshas of Mana, which if get disturbed by any wrong behavioural conducts, vitiates the mind leading to Pradnyaparadha. It leads to emotional imbalance and thus resulting in psychological disturbance. To know about Manas roga, it would be essential to know about “Mana” in detail. An increasing level of mental stress in today‟s era leads to increased mental and emotional imbalance in our society. Ayurveda provides many references of Mana (mind) and Manas roga (mental disorder) which would help in deciding the line of treatment to these disorders. In modern era, human beings are under the influence of Raja and Tama which are the root cause of mental disorder. So, it is necessary to understand the Manas roga, its causes, symptoms, prevention and management from Ayurvedic perspective. Present paper contains review of Mana and Manas roga from classical Ayurvedic texts.

Keywords: Manas, Manas roga, Sattva.