Interview Prof. Dr. (Ind.) Naveen Gupta B.A.M.S

ayurveda-portal.de: How did you get into Ayurveda ?

 

Dr. Gupta: At the age of seven my mother and I were driving on a bus. At that time it was usual that the bus driver would name the next bus stop. There, for the first time I heard the name of a college as Tibia College and the name stayed in my mind.

At the age of 14, I found out that this Tibia College was an Ayurvedic college and I decided that I would go for Ayurveda.

I knew a bit about Ayurveda right from my birth, it was practised in my family through home remedies and cooking.

In 1977 at the age of 17, I was admitted to Tibia College and studied for 6 1/2 years. I was registered as an Ayurvedic doctor with Central council of Indian Medicine and started practising Ayurveda in Delhi in 1984.

 

Unfortunately the Ayurvedic school in India is based on the curriculum of medical schools. The hourly teaching and practising patterns follow the Western school systems. You come from nine to 10 to your first lecture and it continues with the next lecture and then you have an examination.

I wanted to learn the real Ayurveda from which I had heard, the saintly Ayurveda.

Ayurveda is spiritually based and I never got my spiritual training at my University.

 

I started travelling throughout the country. The places where my masters were living I didn*t find out through the Internet or word of mouth. What I did was to travel into a village and just ask “Who are the good Vaidyas over here.” I was interested in Vaidyas with academic background. I was looking for Vaidyas who were not only practising, but could read Sanskrit and had gained the wisdom of Ayurveda from their forefathers. I scrutinised those and travelled for about three years. So I learned Osteopathy in Gujarat, children medicine in Rajasthan, gynaecology and clinical immunology in central India

Then I started practising again in Delhi in 1986 and practised till 1996 with more than 100 patients a day. At that time I was invited by an Ayurveda doctor in Holland to teach in his school.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: Since when are you also practising in Europe?

 

Dr. Gupta: In 1996 I started teaching but later on that doctor also asked me to help him on his critical patients. So I saw my first patients in Europe already in1996. I established my own practice in 2002.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: Do you still have a guru or master?

 

Dr. Gupta: I take my Vedic books as my guru. That is absolutely true and that will not manipulate. I take my guidance of that.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: Do you think that the ancient texts can be adapted to the western world?

 

Dr. Gupta: Yes, it is adaptable. But - it has to be improvised. The eating, the lifestyle of Western people are totally different. So you have to improvise the classical advices and formulations in a way to make it suitable.

And you can still protect the sanctum-sanctorum of Ayurveda. You can practise Ayurveda with authenticity.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: Do you have an example for this improvisation?

 

Dr. Gupta: Yes. As far as I'm concerned I had a lack of Ayurvedic ingredients in Europe. So I improvised myself into being a Marma specialist where I don’t need the Ayurvedic herbs that are not available here.

There is a branch which is Alchemy in Ayurveda and all Indian practitioners are practising it. In the West you are not allowed to practise Alchemy by law. To compensate that I developed my skills into practising Ayurvedic herbalism and my Marma sensitiveness which I learnt from my masters in Pune and Benares in India.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: How do you see the development of Ayurveda in Europe and in India?

 

Dr. Gupta: Sometimes I see a declining of Ayurveda because the principles of Ayurveda have been compromised. I also see a declining of Ayurveda in India because the western medicine is taking over the Ayurvedic medicine.

By introducing Ayurveda wellness the values of Ayurveda have been compromised. And yoga took the lead over Ayurveda in the West. Yoga became a USP. The importance that Yoga has in the West should really be the one of Ayurveda.

Unfortunately the media is touching very sensitive issues in a way that common people who really don't know much about Ayurveda, get scared of Ayurvedic medicine.

So they rather prefer to go for a place for Ayurveda wellness and they feel a little bit of Ayurveda there and they are happy.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: On the other hand yoga is a philosophy that helped implement Ayurveda here in the western world. A lot of yoga practitioners were interested and they planted the seeds of understanding an Eastern philosophy.

 

Dr. Gupta: I totally agree with you. Yoga became very popular - instead of Ayurveda.

It should have been the other way around: Ayurvedic practitioners should have introduced Yoga to the West.

Yoga is a branch of Ayurveda. In my opinion Ayurveda is the umbrella to Yoga. And I respect the opinion of Yoga practitioners if they think otherwise.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: Ayurveda and Wellness is a very sensitive issue. In our Ayurveda Portal we have discussed that wellness, taken in its original approach, is part of the Ayurvedic health system.

 

Dr. Gupta: In fact, the very basis of Ayurveda is wellness. The medicine is just a very small part of Ayurveda. But here I want to emphasise that wellness has to be understood in the right spirit.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: What are your current projects, what are you working on?

 

Dr. Gupta: I am working on the establishment of a NAKSHATRA VATIKA.

Every planet has a corresponding herb. This corresponding herb has a corresponding sign of the zodiac.

We will plant these herbs and trees and they will be a representation of these planets.

Just by seeing this garden and touching the herbs it will already have an effect on the people. Ayurveda knows of herbs that reveal their power already by only being touched.

Others can be put under your bed sheet and they will have a balancing effect on the doshas.

I want to give this information to the people.

People have learned that medicine is something that you have to swallow and that has to be ingested. There is much more.

When a mother touches her child that is “touch medicine” or even touching a plant will act as an effective of medicine. After using it you can hand it over to another person. The effect won’t expend.

 

Another project concerns my marma teaching.

After offering marma seminars in Holland and in Belgium I also want to introduce marma seminars in Germany.

The first course is planned for June. I will start the day with a marma walk in the morning.

I will walk with the participants as part of my program.

The idea is to define marma from bhakti, from religious rituals and while walking in the morning I will tell them, like for example by clapping your hands you are directly stimulating your heart marma point, the talahridaya.

Likewise I will be explaining about the throat marmas and how to stimulate them. I will be explaining about all the chakras and how to stimulate them. How these marma points are balanced, how the kundalini can be awakened. These seminars are an introduction to the work with marmas.

 

 

ayurveda-portal.de: What do you think about the idea of the Ayurveda Portal, of spreading the word on Ayurveda?
 

Dr. Gupta: We are living in the era of information and in this time you are doing a very good job. More and more people are being informed and that is important. Through Ayurveda Portal Ayurveda is touching to most of the people. And people are realising the real concept of sweet home when Ayurveda is there in their sweet homes.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: Is there anything like an advice that you would like to give our visitors on their Ayurvedic path?

 

Dr. Gupta: First I have to divide your visitors into the ones who want to adopt the Ayurvedic knowledge as a health indicator. The other group are the ones who work as an Ayurvedic professional. I have two different messages for two different kind of visitors.

For those, who want to learn Ayurveda I would like to give the message to learn Ayurveda from the Sanskrit texts (from its sutras). In Germany it is not difficult to follow Sanskrit sutras. If you learn from Sanskrit sutras you learn the deeper aspect of Ayurveda. After a few years of practice you will practise the real and authentic Ayurveda. Even in the wellness area you will be doing the authentic Ayurvedic wellness practise and will be able to bring health, happiness and harmony in their sweet homes.

 

For the visitors that are looking on health tips I would like to say: Instead of being busy to finding out their dosha-test they should see Ayurveda in such a way that it can address to their activities of daily living. Right from waking up from the bed, what Ayurvedic guidelines are helpful, till they are ready for their work, coming back home and going to bed.

In relation to their home, in relation to their family and relationships.

They should at least adopt one Ayurvedic principle daily to be healthy. It can be a mantra in the morning, it can mean warm ingwer water or yoga and pranayama in the morning, it could mean some churna in their food and some incense in sweet home. And they should introduce Ayurveda to their children, give massage at least once a week or month and one ingredient of Ayurveda every day, or one procedure of Ayurveda every day. If they adopt they will be healthy and happy and will be harmonious within them.

 

ayurveda-portal.de: Dr. Gupta, thank you very much for this interview.

 

 

 

Contact:
Naveen Gupta
Vaidya - Ayurved Acharya
B.A.M.S. Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery
Delhi University, India

GSM: (+31) (0) 641 000 248
E. Mail: info@ayurved.eu
Web: www.ayurved.eu

 

 

 

Profile
I am an Ayurveda Doctor born (1960) in New Delhi, India. I received my qualifications B.A.M.S. in 1983 from Delhi University, India with 1st position and distinctions in all clinical subjects.
I received my registration for practice from Central Council of India Medicine in 1984 and thereafter I worked as Consultant Ayurveda Physician specialising in Pulse diagnosis, Marma & Panchakarma in a variety of clinical, pharmaceutical, research and institutional settings in India.

 

I worked as consultant, Ayurveda Researcher and Clinician on Internal Medicine specialized in Gastroenterology, Endocrine, Auto-immune Disorders and Psychiatry at Ayurveda India based at New Delhi.
Since 2004, I have established my private practice, coaching and training center in the Netherlands.

 

Associations
I am on Board of All India Ayurvedic Congress as executive member on International Committee for Ayurveda outside India. Recently I have been appointed as vice chairman of an association namely Algemene Nederlandse Vereniging voor Ayurveda Geneeskunde (ANVAG) which comprises Regular Medicine Doctors’, Ayurvedic Doctors and practitioners as members of the society dedicated to the cause of offering alternative medicine solutions in a natural way. I am also on the Scientific Board advising Ayurveda protocol of Diagnosis and Management for chronic illness and challenging diseases of this century.

 

Ayurveda in health practice
Based on my clinical experience of 24 years, I have designed various Ayurveda formulations for different organic systems known as Srotas in Ayurvedic terminology (can be translated as channels of circulation) viz. Nervous system, Cardio-vascular system, Respiratory system, Gastro-intestinal system, Uro-genital system, Endocrine System and so on. Some of these formulations are registered in the Netherlands as Ayurveda solutions and alternative health and dietary supplements prescribed by Doctors and Ayurveda Practitioners for diverse indications in day to day practice.
For Ayurveda wellness industry I designed Marma application oils for harmonizing body, mind and spirit and Ayurveda skin care & cosmetic solutions based on time tested traditional knowledge on Ayurvedic Body-mind type for Ayurvedic pharmaceutical industries in India and distributors of Ayurvedic products in the Netherlands and other EU States.

 

Coaching (at various levels/Modules)
I promote and guide various programs on Ayurveda Academics for Natural & complementary Medicine Therapists, Regular Medicine Doctors, Scientists and Researchers and Faculties of Medical University in India and EU States.