Vital force is a purely immaterial, invisible and dynamic energy which animates the material organism in health and in disease. It is a self governing force which rules the body with unlimited power. It retains all the parts of the organism in admirable, harmonious, vital operation. The material organism (body) without this vital force is capable of no sensation, no function and no self preservation. The material organism derives all sensations and performs all the functions of the life by means of this immaterial force. The material organism without this is dead and now only subject to the power of external physical world, it decays and is again resolved into its chemical constituents. As a power invisible in itself, the vital force is only cognizable by its effects on the organism. There are many such things as for example the gravitational force of the earth, being invisible, makes itself known by the falling of an object to ground; the conceptual magnetic power in a magnet, being immaterial, manifests itself by attracting the iron fillings; the feeling of love of the parents, being abstract, manifests by careful and responsible upbringing of their children.

It performs various functions of the body with perfect co-ordination in health. We never make calculations while walking or ascending steps, but it happens so smoothly that we never encounter the problem of knocking head, hands or legs against things, when in health. We never wish to stop breathing while swallowing but it happens with excellent co-ordination, so that the foods and liquids which we swallow never enter into nose or larynx, even though there is a common channel for digestive and respiratory tracts for some distance. We can operate the switches even in dark which we are accustomed to. The vital force performs various functions of nervous, circulatory, respiratory systems etc. in an integrated approach. Had there not been the proper self presentation of vital force we will not instinctively remove our hand when it touches a hot thing. Likewise we would not think of life in its precious nature, rationally, and stay balanced in times of crisis without thoughts of suicide, had there not been the proper self-preservation.

HOW FAR ARE WE REALLY HEALTHY?

In general notion a person without any sufferings is deemed to be healthy. Is it real health or apparent health? For this to decide we need to focus our attention on the health history of our parentage (grandparents, maternal and paternal uncles and aunts, parents). If they are absolutely healthy then there is every chance of, we being really healthy. If that is not the case and the family health history is poor, then the question arises how we are able to stay so healthy?

To answer this question we should go through one of the novel concepts introduced by homoeopathy to medicine namely the “disease resistance” which can be elaborated as resistance offered by a stronger disease towards a weaker disease. We generally speak of resistance and immunity which means resistance offered by a person in health to disease. In day to day living we speak of persons suffering from trivial and acute diseases such as repeated attacks of cold, fevers, diarrhoea, chicken pox, worms etc. to be unhealthy. While speaking so we are missing an important point that as long as a person (usually children) is suffering from these trifling complaints frequently, he is not been attacked by chronic diseases such as asthma, tuberculosis, diabetes, hypertension, cancers, so on and so forth. Only when the small acute troubles cease to appear, an individual is liable to be affected by serious chronic disorders because the so called chronic and deep seated diseases resist the occasioning of weaker acute diseases which is what termed “disease resistance”. The routine concept of resistance and immunity says the diametrically opposite of this that the child being weak in resistance suffers frequently and grownups being highly resistant opposes these complaints.The hollowness of this concept can be easily brought into light by the simple observation that the so-called children of weak resistance are only attacked by the short lived or self-limited diseases and the so-called healthy adults of increased and stronger resistance are being attacked by chronic diseases of unlimited progression. From this we must understand the fact that so called acute diseases are nothing but expulsion of some disease pollution which by their inherent yielding nature are easy to deal with, as compared to chronic disease of obstinate character. So it is very important that when we come across a child who is staying apparently healthy (without any acute troubles but with diseased parentage) to be kept under the care and supervision of a genuine homoeopathic physician as it should be understood that the child is harbouring a deep seated chronic disease far from being diagnosed as of now.

One more important concept which homoeopathy introduced to medicine is “one-side diseases”, which means diseases with too few symptoms. When we take the cases of an abscess and cancer, the abscess which yields to treatment relatively easy or goes off by itself when left to its own course causes intolerable pain and suffering during its maturation, breakage and healing whereas the cancer which is life threatening causes very little trouble except bleeding in some conditions and pressure symptoms. This shows that an easily curable condition like abscess expresses itself with multiple sufferings and an incurable condition like cancer expresses itself with too few symptoms i.e., the one-sided condition, the other symptoms all over the body being masked. To consider such individuals with too few symptoms (though not diagnosed) to be healthy is as foolish as believing that the stars, sun and moon behind the clouds are absent because as soon as the cloud cover is blown away the original disease can be seen in its full extent as are stars, sun and moon. To conclude in a single sentence the curability of a disease depends on the extent of expressionExpression
The extent of expression in the form of symptoms decides the curability of a disease …. of the disease, the more complete and expressive the disease is, the more curable it is and the more one-sided a disease with too few symptoms the less curable it is.

1) ALLOPATHY

The first mode of employing medicines in diseases is allopathy, which works on the principle “diseases are cured in an individual by producing a different suffering”. These sufferings have no pathological relation whatsoever, to what is actually diseased in the body and the medicines attack the parts most exempt and free from the diseases in order to draw away the disease through them.

The best example to this method of treatment is the use of diuretics of different types to clear dropsical conditions of various parts arising from various causes such as pericardial effusion [excess fluid around heart in its covering membranes], pleural effusion [excess fluid around lungs], hydro-cephalus [fluid accumulation in brain], fluid in joint spaces as well as external dropsies. The most important point that is to be noted here is that the diuretics administered in these cases does not have any pathological relation whatsoever with those parts that are actually diseased i.e., heart, lung, brain and other parts as the prime seat of action of most of these diuretics remains to be the reabsorption centres of kidneys. As the medicine i.e., the diuretic doesn’t deal with the removal of the cause of disease but merely concentrates upon removing the effect of disease viz., the removal of accumulated fluid, the original disease remains uncured though there is some symptomatic relief for a short period, but to worsen the things the simultaneous occurrence of few other troubles in the form of side effects results in the increase of original disease.

To brief all these in Hahnemann’s words “Allopathic treatment is nothing but purchasing a single benefit by a nine fold injury”. Bringing it to common man’s experience it is nothing but “borrowing money from many different sources in an attempt to clear one debt and thus sink financially more than ever before” which should not be the choice of a wise and thinking person.

2) ANTIPATHY:

The second method of treatment is “antipathy” which works on the principle “diseases are cured by medicines which produce an opposite suffering”. The secret of success behind this method is that physicians usually gain the confidence of the patient by deluding him with momentary amelioration (relief). Had there not been such a palliative relief, this medical system would have faced extinction many centuries ago on account of its mischievous consequences. It is only one of the modes of treatment, along with homoeopathy, adopted by conventional physicians that had any manifest relation to a portion of sufferings caused by natural disease, but of the opposite kind which ought to be. Antipathy is a kind of treatment whose results are very much short-lived and hence must be totally avoided if we were not to delude and make a mockery of the patient affected with a chronic disease. Treating an ankylosing spondylitis patient by pain-killers and a crohn’s individual with anti-diarrhoeals one-sidedly ignoring the accessory symptoms as well as advancing undercurrent grievous pathology is nothing but making mockery of the poor patient as Hahnemann aptly commented.

In order to carry into practice this antipathic method, the ordinary physician gives, for a single troublesome symptom from among the many other symptoms of the disease which he ignores and passes by unheeded, a medicine concerning which it is known that it produces the exact opposite of the morbid symptom sought to be relieved, from which, he will expect the speediest (palliative) relief. He gives pain killers for pains of all sorts, because this drug soon benumbs the sensibility. He administers anti-diarrhoeals for various diarrhoeas, as it speedily puts a stop to the peristaltic motion of the intestinal canal. Likewise he gives sedatives for those psychiatric patients who suffer from mental agitation which rapidly produces a stupefied, comatose sleep. Similarly he gives laxatives for those who suffer from constipation.

In estimating the value of this mode of employing medicines, we usually pass over the circumstance that it is an extremely faulty symptomatic treatment, which the practitioner devotes his attention in a merely one-sided manner to a single symptom, consequently to only a small part of the whole disease, whereby relief for the totality of the disease, which is what the patient desires eventually, cannot evidently be expected. Though this may afford some transient relief in diseases of rapid course, its inefficiency can be established and experienced as clear as day light in every single case of chronic or persisting affection because each single time a medicine is employed in this method after the transient amelioration there ensures an increased aggravation [worsening], indeed, of the whole disease. Every attentive observer will agree, that, after such short antipathic amelioration [relief], aggravation [worsening] follows, as part of secondary action or counter action, in every single case without exception, although the ordinary physician is in the habit of giving his patient another explanation of this subsequent aggravation and ascribe it to malignancy and incurability of the original disease, now for the first time showing itself, or to the occurrence of quite a new disease.

It is a matter of daily experience even to a person of mediocre observation skills that a patient suffering from disease of long standing viz., hypertension, diabetes, asthma, hypothyroidism etc., will not be using the medicine of same power which he had initially begun with and compelled to increase them gradually from 5mg → 10mg → 25 mg → 50mg → 100 mg → . . . . . which clearly suggests that the disease was not even maintained status quo with this method of treatment but instead gets gradually worsened as time progresses by, compelling the physician to increase the dose of medicine to maintain the transient relief.

Examples from conventional treatment : If there is a case of diabetes which has increased blood sugar levels that is treated by insulin of 4 units quantity, initially the blood sugar levels are brought to normal during primary action of medicine followed by increase of blood sugar, as part of secondary action, requiring to be treated by 4 more units of insulin in addition to the uncured original disease thus forcing to use 8 units of insulin over a period of time. Thus the dosage is compelled to increase and increase further [10 → 30 → 50 → 80 units . . . . .] as long as the individual is alive without any hope or scope of curing the disease.

Likewise a person who is advised to use 25mg of thyroid hormone, in a case of hypothyroidism, observes an initial raise in thyroid levels in the blood as part of primary action, but later is compelled to use more quantity of thyroid hormone as the original disease gets worsened by the addition of hypothyroid disease which is the consequence of secondary action of vital force. This increase of dosage is a never ending process throughout the life as it keeps on growing 50mg → 100mg → 200mg → . . . . . . so on and so forth.

Similarly after the profound stupefied sleep produced by sleeping pills [hypnotics] during the primary action, the following night will be all the more sleepless, as part of secondary action of the vital force, thus obligating him to use increased doses of hypnotics until the patient at times is funnily [rather in a strange manner] advised to do meditation as the hypnotics available as of now end up helpless.

The condition is the same in every case of chronic disease of longstanding nature such as hypertension, diabetes, hypothyroidism, asthma, rheumatic pains, psychological disorders etc., and not even a single individual who is ailing a chronic disease can escape from this increase of dosage and most unfortunately each and every body should bear the brunt of subsequent side effects of those drugging under the conventional treatments.

3) ISOPATHY:

The third mode of employing medicines in diseases is “Isopathy”, as it is called, that is to say, “a method of curing a given disease by the same contagious principle that produces it”. Those who first brought Isopathy to notice, probably thought of the benefit which mankind received from cow pox (which is the result of inoculation of smallpox virus into a cow) vaccination by which the vaccinated individual is protected against future small pox infection and as it were cured in advance. But the point here is both cow pox and small pox are only similar and in no way the same disease. Their curing in advance should be attributed to underlying principle of Homoeopathy and none other that. Superficially isopathy and homoeopathy seem to be alike but the subtle difference between them is isopathy endeavours to cure a disease by the same contagious principle whereas homoeopathy cures by producing a similar disease [not the one which exactly causes the disease]. The flaw in the concept of Isopathy can be brought out with the example of vaccination.

VACCINATION

Vaccination is a preventive treatment, particularly in infectious diseases, based on the concept of isopathy. The principle governing the concept of vaccination is stimulating immune response i.e., production of antibodies by the use of an infectious agent either the inactivated (non-infective) or attenuated (with reduced infectivity) forms of the disease-causing organisms, thus preventing the disease. But a simple point which is passed unnoticed not infrequently is that how can an attenuated or inactivated organism stimulate the immune system of the body for the production of antibodies. The reason behind this is that there is something active and still infectious which is potent enough to produce the disease as well as to arouse the immune reaction which is why the antibodies are produced. This fact can be corroborated by a not infrequent observation of appearance of fever and other reactions on administration of some vaccines. The advocators of vaccine theory may argue in favour of it that there is effective prevention of infectious diseases through vaccination. But the point here is that there is definite infection of individual with the disease which is not manifesting actively in the form of signs and symptoms. There are such symptomless disease conditions familiar to medical people as for example “incubation period” which is a phase between infection and active manifestation of the disease.

In the homoeopathic outlook, vaccination is one of the most potent factors behind the miseries from which mankind is groaning in the past few centuries. Early success of vaccination theory and compulsion brought widespread acceptance as well as mass vaccination campaigns which were undertaken put an end to all epidemics, particularly deadly fearful small pox to such an extent that the present generation does no longer possess a clear conception of the former frightful small pox plague. The fact is that the dreaded small pox on its every incidence used to clear unhealthy people and on the other hand those who are substantially healthy withstood the fatal attack of small pox and used to lead their complete span of life with fairly good quality. Universal immunization en masse for various epidemics initially reduced the child mortality rate giving scope for misleading statistics regarding increase of average human life span. By vaccination we are doing nothing but “survival of the unfittest”. This fact is very much clearly established by the statistic that the average full life span of a human being is progressively decreasing from 100+ years to 90 → 80 →70 → 60 → . . . . . . . Most importantly the gross reduction in child mortality is parallelly attended with simultaneous reduction in complete life span. There is also drastic decline in health standards as well as quality of life with the incidence of chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, paralysis, kidney failures, cancers etc., at too early an age as compared to our previous generations, an observation which is again confirming the point of “survival of the unfittest”.

In fact most of the epidemics come to our good as nature always tries to get rid of the morbific (disease) pollution through some vent so that the individual can carry on their living relatively healthier. Another fact which carries a great significance is that most epidemics give a fair indication of the future complaints as for example the occurrence of mumps suggests chances of future tonsillitis, hepatitis etc., as they all have their roots in glandular affections. Similarly whooping cough in children suggests the spasmophilic tendency with chances of future epilepsy, asthma, etc.,. The regular outlets, like small pox, chickenpox, polio, measles, mumps, whooping cough, typhoid etc., having been plugged by successful immunization programmes, nature strives hard in a fair manner to establish relatively new vents in the form of haemorrhagic dengue, bird-flu, swine-flu, SARS etc.,. This point can also be noticed in the frequent incidence of “stomach flu” in well developed countries where frequent vaccines are given for influenza [flu fever] as compared to frequent incidence of normal influenza in developing countries. The same point can be noted in the frequent incidence of peanut allergies (which occasionally turns out fatal) in well developed countries where vaccination is very much prevalent.

4) HOMOEOPATHY:

The fourth and last mode of treatment is Homoeopathy in which medicines are employed on the principle “diseases are cured by medicines which are capable enough of producing similar sufferings as those of the disease to be cured”.

The homoeopathic mode of cure is the only proper one among all the possible modes of employing medicines in diseases, as it is the only direct way to a mild, sure, permanent cure without doing injury in any other direction, thereby without weakening the patient. It is one of the modes of treatment along with antipathy which has manifest relation to the sufferings of the patient but of similar and curative relation.

In homoeopathic cures we can see that from the uncommonly small doses of medicine required in this method of treatment, which are just sufficient, by the similarity of this symptom, to overpower and remove the similar natural disease (as they precisely affect the same parts and functions of the body which are already diseased on account of their susceptibility to the disease with natural or medicinal) there certainly remains, after the destruction of the natural disease, at first a certain amount of medicinal disease alone in the organ but on account of the extraordinary minuteness of the dose, it is so transient, so slight, and disappears so rapidly of its own accord that the vital force has no need to employ substantial energy against this medicinal disease.

Any treatment whether it is allopathy, ayurveda, herbal or any other which uses medicines in massive doses, without exception, will produce side effects. Then the question arises how homoeopathy is able to cure diseases with medicines in such minute doses that are incapable of producing side effects. The reason behind this is homoeopathic medicines act in similar relation to the disease and by their action on the same parts that are actually diseased. This concept can be better understood by the following example. A horrible stench in a room which has profound effect on the sensitive nerves of the nose can be undone by a drop of perfume which acts on the same olfactory nerves. Neither a noise produced from a 1000w speaker which exerts its influence on the nerves of ears nor a strong light of 500w which exerts its influence on the nerves of eye, nor a delicious food which act on the taste buds and nerves of the tongue can clear this olfactory disgust however strong and massive the influence may be, as all of them exert their influence on other nerves which are not related [though they may make the individual imperceptible of the disgust for a short while]. But this can be miraculously achieved by a minute dose of perfume as it acts on the same nerves.

The genuine homoeopathic mode of cure is the only proper way, the only direct way, the only possible way to human skill as certainly as only straight line can be drawn betwixt two given points. Hence noble visions of “Health for all by 2000A.D. or 2020A.D. or . . . . . .” cannot be achieved by those treatments which usually run in a vicious chain link of “Disease → medicine → side-effects → more complex disease → medicine → side-effects →. . . . . . .” which often terminates with the death of the innocent creature. Only genuine homoeopathy which treats diseases without any side-effects what so ever, if not in the near future, can achieve the noble visions of “Health for all” ultimately.

It is the disease affected vital force alone that produces diseases, so that the disease symptoms perceptible to our senses express at the same time all the internal change. In other words “Disease” manifests in those parts of the organism that are exposed to the senses of observer and physician in the form of sensations and functions and nothing “to be cured” is concealed internally. The changes in the health of the body and of the mind, i.e. the deviations from the former healthy state of the now diseased individual, which are felt by the patient himself and observed by those around him and the physician together represent the disease in its whole extent, namely the totality of symptoms, form a true and conceivable portrait of disease but not a particular condition like cancer or kidney stone; not a clot in the blood vessels of heart or brain i.e. thrombosis ; not a raised blood sugar level i.e. diabetes ; not a lowered haemoglobin in blood i.e. anaemia. Consequently the disappearance of the totality of symptoms i.e., the disease in its entirety is what is said to be “cure“.

CAUSE OF DISEASE

One of the revolutionary concepts introduced by homoeopathy to the medical world is “susceptibility” or a state of predisposition of the organism to a disease. Most of the other systems of medicine propose the cause of the disease to be a material whether it is a virus or bacteria or a worm and so on and so forth. The hollowness of the “concept of material cause” can be easily understood by the fact that only a few susceptible persons are getting affected with lung cancer though millions of people are smoking; a few susceptible persons are only affected with liver cancer though millions are drinking alcohol. This doesn’t mean that alcoholism and smoking are harmless. Indeed they hasten the process of disease in those susceptible individuals by 10-15 years depending on the level of addiction Likewise we know that thousands and millions of various bacteria remain spread in the atmosphere which we are exposed to, but a few, who are susceptible to that disease, are getting affected with common cold, T.B., pneumonia etc. In the same way many girls may stay together in a hostel but a few complain of lice and many boys may stay in a hostel together but some only complain of ringworm or scabies. There may be many putrefaction causing bacteria around us but they only attack a body which is already dead. From these examples we can understand that susceptibility is the prime factor when it comes to cause of the disease and all these material agents such as bacteria, viruses etc. are nothing but scavengers which feed upon the dead tissue and are obviously found in the clinical or laboratory investigations.

The factor behind this susceptibility is our unnatural living as for instance the incidence of eye diseases increased after the so called civilized societies started to remain awake during nights by using the artificial lights which he is not supposed to as human eye is not designed for night vision. For the same reason many animals which live in close association with human beings, far from nature, are being susceptible to many diseases like man when compared to those which live in forests close to nature. That is why homoeopathy advocates to live close to the nature.

STAGES OF DISEASE

According to homoeopathy, disease progresses in 4 stages in any individual.

1. Phenomenal stage with deviations in sensations.
2. Physiological stage with disturbances in functions.
3. Pathological stage with changes in structure.
4. One sided or incurable stage with irreversible damages.

For example a condition like gastric ulcer may manifest in the form of burning sensation which represents phenomenal stage, next to it there appears a functional disturbance such as indigestion with belchings, which represents physiological stage of disease, further it manifests in the form of an ulcer which is a structural change representing the pathological stage and eventually a cancerous change in the ulcer representing an incurable stage which is almost an irreversible condition.

DIAGNOSIS

Most of the other systems recognize and name the conditions as diseases usually in the third or fourth stages, i.e. when they enter into the sphere of surgery, by which time the diseases have travelled a long distance when it is too late for medical treatments. The superiority of homoeopathy over other systems of medicine lies with that they are recognized as diseases in their earliest stages so that they can be cured then itself and are prevented from going to surgical necessities. Though there is an incredible advancement in the field of surgery and surgical techniques in the recent decades, as per homoeopathy letting disease allow into the domain of surgery with unscientific treatments is, itself, greatest misfortune to mankind. And also another important advantage attached with homoeopathy is that no diagnostic term such as asthma or jaundice or hypertension or typhoid is essential to the treatment as it is based on the totality of the symptoms. One of the best edges of homoeopathy over other systems of medical practice is that many symptoms do not come under a distinct diagnosis as for example secretion of milk in non-pregnant women, itching of teeth, visible palpitation of heart, biting of tongue and cheeks while talking and chewing etc. can be treated in homoeopathy with assured results.

But as far as Homoeopathy is concerned “Cure” means restoration of the health of the individual. To be more clear, there is originally a stored health in every individual, deviation from that original stored health is what we call “disease”. Now restoration to that original state of health without leaving any traces of disease is what “cure” means in homoeopathy.

IN ACUTE DISEASES

In acute diseases which have a definite onset, a definite course and a definite end (be it ecovery or death) such as pneumonia, typhoid etc., as said before in general notion bringing down the body temperature clinically or removal of few other principal symptoms is cure but the remaining symptoms such as cold, cough or diarrhoea does not get relieved simultaneously with fever. Even after the removal of these, vague symptoms such as weakness, debility, lack of appetite etc. still persist for some time. If that case is treated in homoeopathy, though it may take relatively longer time to bring down the temperature, complete restoration of health i.e., removal of all perceptible signs and symptoms including the fever takes place in the same time or even in a shorter period as compared to other modes of treatments and the individual enjoys the original standards of his health. So, the relative delay in bringing down the temperature shall not be considered as late.

IN CHRONIC DISEASES

Coming to the chronic diseases which have an indefinite beginning and an indefinite course until death such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma, thyroid irregularities, rheumatic pains etc., as an acute disease of some days or weeks standing yields in few days, the chronic disease of some months or years old takes relatively longer periods to yield. If we take a case of fever arising from coryza (common cold) which, when left to itself declines in few days, will yield to homoeopathic treatment in few hours or days. In the same way fever arising from typhoid which declines in 2-3 weeks yields in few days or a week in homoeopathy. Likewise fever arising from tuberculosis which runs chronically when left to its own course, being obstinate in nature, will yield in few weeks or months in homoeopathy. Fever as fever when seen in a narrow spectrum and superficially may look the same but the background factor, namely coryza, typhoid or tuberculosis, which runs the disease, decides the gravity of the disease which we are dealing with. Such factors have a lot of influence over the length & depth of the complaint and correspondingly the time taken to get cured under homoeopathic treatment.

IN SURGICAL DISEASES

Along with these we need to reckon another class of chronic diseases namely the surgical diseases such as tumours, calculi etc. Basically we need to understand that a tumour or cancer arises in an individual because of a tumour or cancer producing tendency. Likewise a calculus or stone has formed because of a stone forming tendency lurking in that individual. So, with any kind of advanced surgical techniques we can only remove the tumour or calculus in that individual but not the tendency that is responsible for the production of that diseased condition. So the tendency having not been eradicated there is every chance of reappearance of the complaint in the same part or not unusually in a more important part. This is nothing but plucking off and throwing away a rotten fruit instead of radical removal of the cause of the condition. In these cases of surgical diseases homoeopathy goes to the root and brings a change in the disease producing tendency whereby the present tumour or calculus disappears simultaneously leaving no chance for the disease tendency to produce such a condition elsewhere in the economy.

PREVENTION OF DISEASES

Finally and last but not the least is that the unique greatness of homoeopathy lies with that while treating and curing the present condition, much more serious and long standing diseases can be prevented. Left to its own course every disease condition advances further day by day usually transforming itself into different forms at various stages of life in every individual on account of his unnatural mode of living (of course all this happens in a much more increased pace when treated unhomoeopathically).For example polyureac conditions (such as diabetes) which are characterized by increased frequency of urination can be prevented by treating and curing the bed wetting complaint usually observed in children of diabetic parentage. Similarly spasmophilic conditions such as epilepsy or asthma can be prevented by treating a usually ignored and trifling complaint of spasmodic cry in children. So it should not be deemed to have taken long time to cure a small and trivial complaint as it is a fore runner of a future chronic complaint.

CONCLUSION

So for the chronic diseases, particularly for which no other system of medicine offers a permanent cure, the time take by a  treatment should be considered as the most rapid cure possible.

PRIMARY ACTION :

Every agent that acts upon the vitality, every medicine, deranges more or less the vital force and causes a certain alteration in the health of the individual for a longer or a shorter period. This is termed primary action. Here the agent which means a force or substance may be an offending word to an egoistic individual or a mere admonition to a nervous, sensitive person or physically a medicinal substance. Although a product of the medicinal and vital powers conjointly, primary action is principally due to the former power i.e., medicine. During the primary action of the artificial disease causing agents [medicines] on our healthy body, as seen in the following examples, our vital force seems to conduct itself merely in a passive [receptive] manner, and appears to have been compelled to permit the impressions of the artificial power acting from without to take place in it and thereby alter its state of health which means the vital force is given with no choice except to bear the effects of the noxious influence.

SECONDARY ACTION :

Now the vital force endeavours to oppose its own energy. This resistant action is a property is indeed an automatic action of our life preserving power, which goes by the name of secondary action which means the secondary action is an instinctive, inevitable and “bound to occur” act of the vital force. On alteration of state of health during primary action, the vital force then, however, appears to rouse itself again, as it were, and to develop (A) the exact opposite condition of health [secondary counter action] to this effect (primary action) produced upon it, if there be such an opposite, and that in as great a degree as was the effect (primary action) of the artificial morbific or medicinal agent on it, and proportionate to its own energy or (B) if there be not in nature a state exactly the opposite of the primary action, it appears to endeavour to indifferentiate itself, that is, to make its superior power available in the extinction of the change brought on it from without (by the medicine) in the place of which it substitutes its normal state [secondary curative action].

EXPERIMENT :

A simple experiment that can be done domestically to verify and confirm as well as to understand the phenomenon of primary action and secondary action is by dipping our hand in hot water at first, it becomes much warmer than the other hand that has not been bathed in water, but when it is withdrawn from the hot water and thoroughly dried, it becomes in a short time cold, and at length much colder than the other hand [secondary action]. A few but important points to be noted here from this example are firstly the vital force is compelled to take the influence of the agent [warm water] unconditionally without any choices and secondly if the rise in temperature of the hand dipped in warm water is assumed to be raised by 3 degrees beyond normal during the primary action, the fall in temperature will be 3 degrees below the normal during the secondary action because the secondary action will usually be as great a degree as primary action, provided the vital force is substantially strong. But if the vital force is weak and the vital powers sunken the secondary counter action need not be of the same degree as the reaction is always in proportion to the energy levels of the vital force. The vice versa may be observed if the hand is bathed in cold water.

EXAMPLES FROM DOMESTIC REMEDIES :

If a person uses castor oil in a case of constipation where the stool is passed on alternate days. In the process of primary action, initially his bowels move actively to remove constipation or even at times too frequent movement of bowels results in diarrhoea if the dose is large. Soon after that the vital force reacts during secondary action by producing the constipation in addition to the uncured original constipation resulting in passage of stools once in 2 or 3 days. Similarly excessive vivacity follows the use of strong coffee as part of primary action, but sluggishness and drowsiness develop, inevitably which is the instinctive reaction of vital force in the process of secondary action, that remain for a long time afterwards if this be not always again removed for a short time by fresh drinking of coffee.

EXAMPLES FROM CONVENTIONAL TREATMENT :

If there is a case of diabetes which has increased blood sugar levels that is treated by insulin of 4 units quantity, initially the blood sugar levels are brought to normal during primary action of medicine followed by increase of blood sugar, as part of secondary action, requiring to be treated by 4 more units of insulin in addition to the uncured original disease thus forcing to use 8 units of insulin over a period of time. Thus the dosage is compelled to increase and increase further [10 → 30 → 50 → 80 units . . . . .] as long as the individual is alive without any hope or scope of curing the disease.

Likewise a person who is advised to use 25mg of thyroid hormone, in a case of hypothyroidism, observes an initial raise in thyroid levels in the blood as part of primary action, but later is compelled to use more quantity of thyroid hormone as the original disease gets worsened by the addition of hypothyroid disease which is the consequence of secondary action of vital force. This increase of dosage is a never ending process throughout the life as it keeps on growing 50mg → 100mg → 200mg → . . . . . . so on and so forth.

Similarly after the profound stupefied sleep produced by sleeping pills [hypnotics] during the primary action, the following night will be all the more sleepless, as part of secondary action of the vital force, thus obligating him to use increased doses of hypnotics until the patient at times is funnily [rather in a strange manner] advised to do meditation as the hypnotics available as of now end up helpless.

The condition is the same in every case of chronic disease of longstanding nature such as hypertension, diabetes, hypothyroidism, asthma, rheumatic pains, psychological disorders etc., and not even a single individual who is ailing a chronic disease can escape from this increase of dosage and most unfortunately each and every body should bear the brunt of subsequent side effects of those drugging under the conventional treatments.

since in all the other so called physical diseases (whether it be acute or chronic), the state of mind and its disposition is always altered without exception. Therefore we will never be able to cure conformably to nature that is to say, homoeopathically, if we do not in every case of disease,(even in acute diseases such as typhoid, diarrhoea, flu etc.,) make note of and use the mental symptoms in the selection of remedy.

Basically we should not forget that a human mind is an equipoise mixture of emotions, reasoning, judgement and memories. When we say a person is an angry or grieving individual, it means his mentality is being predominated by that particular emotion. Likewise if we say that a person is suffering from a psychiatric trouble such as schizophrenia, depressive disorder, it means his physical symptoms are being dominated and not infrequently masked by the mental symptoms. Apart from these one sided mental diseases homoeopathy gives utmost value to the minute changes in the mind and the disposition of an individual.

Homoeopathy comprehends the abnormality of both the overcautious and careless attitude equally. An overcautious gesture of sitting beside an emergency window always anticipating a danger is as equally abnormal as a reckless attitude of sitting at an open door in a railway coach.Likewise unusually hardworking nature is as equally diseased symptom as laziness.In the same way unusual intelligence is an equally unhealthy trait as mental retardation .Homoeopathy establishes the link between the suppressed emotion such as suppressed anger, grief, fear and the subsequent physical and mental ailments arising there from. No other system gives so much value for the most ignored and so felt “nothing diseased” symptoms such as miserly, greedy, timid, bold, indifferent or buoyant human natures.

Not only appreciating these individual mental symptoms in their own merit, homoeopathy judiciously makes use of these alterations in mind while treating the sick individual successfully but not merely sedating or agitating the miserable sick on a general basis. The uniqueness of homoeopathy lies in not only foreseeing the future malignant conditions in a child of unusually refractory (uncontrollably mischievous) nature but also treating the present condition on one hand and simultaneously making the child free from the cancerous mishaps in future on the other hand. Once again, needless to say, any treatment proves to be unscientific and detrimental without a wholistic approach of mental and physical symptoms and the thought of a rapid and permanent cure of a disease in its entirety remains forever a dream.

Now a days counseling has become a crazy affair with increasing awareness of psychological troubles.One should note that mere “counselling” does not serve the purpose and not infrequently a futile act in a case of true psychiatric disorder such as weakness of memory, personality disorders, depressive disorders etc. without proper homoeopathic treatment.

So any medicine or substance with medicinal value when taken in indiscriminately turns out to be poisonous and injurious. For the same reason the amount of medicine i.e. the dose and the number of doses are strictly regulated in every system of medicine without exception whether it be allopathy or ayurveda or homoeopathy. In domestic living (particularly in Indian households) people use substances of medicinal properties indiscriminately in foods ignoring the fact that a medicine should be used when a person is diseased or when there is a strong likelihood of getting affected with a disease. One should not and must not forget that a medicine should be taken as medicine and in the form of medicine but not as a part of food. Only nourishing things should be a part of our food not things of medicinal value which never take part in nutrition.

The reason for this is that every substance that we consume with medicinal values viz., ginger, garlic, turmeric, cloves, cinnamon, poppy seeds, mustard used in pickles, iodized salt, sunflower oil, gum of stinkisand, mint, coffee, tea etc.,. when left in the body uneliminated turns out to be toxic and detrimental to the health. So the vital force , the spiritual dynamic force which governs the mind & body, is forced to get relieved of these toxic influences investing a lot of precious energy, unnecessarily, which should be used, at normal times, for proper functioning of body and mind in health and in disease. So with every use of these medicinal substances the vital force is compelled to divert its precious energies to eliminate these toxins thereby making the body weak and further susceptible to diseases easily. The same point holds very good when a person is under homoeopathic treatment as the energy supplied by the homoeopathic drug to the vital force to combat with disease and get rid of it will be used forcibly to expel the noxious influences thereby leaving the disease partially cured or totally uncured depending on the level of violation of dietary instructions.

General Tips on Diet

QUOTATIONS ON DIET

• Dr. Samuel Hahnemann says “Moderation in all things, even in harmless ones, is the chief duty of chronic patients”
• Sri Ramakrishna says “Eat as much as you require in the day time, but reduce as much as you can at night”
• Nature says “Eat as much as you require in summer, but reduce as much as you can in winter”
• Francois Maree says “Eat with moderation what you know by experience agrees with your constitution”
• Marie Voltaire says “Nothing is good for the health but what you can digest”

One of the steadfast pillars on which homoeopathy is based upon is “individualisation” which means viewing every condition as distinctly separate and peculiar of its own. The principle of individualisation is strictly applied in health, disease and cure as well as in dietary instructions. Diet should be suggested basing on individual constitution, stage and strength of disease, particular symptoms, environmental conditions etc. Homoeopathy strictly puts into practise the famous English saying “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”. Hence everyone should be their own physician. One should assist nature, not force it. Still here are given some general dietary tips which must be followed by patients in general and, in particular, who are under homoeopathy treatment.

1. Ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cloves and poppy which are highly spicy in nature should be avoided.
2. Any pickles made by using mustard, red chilly powder should be evaded.
3. Stimulants such as coffee, tea, tobacco (chewing and smoking) and others must be avoided.
4. Any sort of intoxicating liquors should be stopped. In case of addiction to alcohol it should be reduced
   gradually week by week in a systematic schedule.
5. Strong flavoured substances like assafoetida, coriander must be stopped.
6. People with cold catching tendency or cough should refrain from taking sour and acidic substances
   like citrus fruits, grapes, tamarind, tomato etc., coconut and its products, cold water, drinks, ice creams, vegetables and fruits having high water content such as cucumber, ridge gourd, bottle gourd, snake gourd, water melon etc.,.
7. People with rheumatic conditions mainly arthritis, muscular rheumatism etc., should abstain from taking roots like potato, sweet potato, raddish, carrot, beet root, yam, colacasia etc., pulses mainly red, green, bengal grams, groundnuts, almonds, pea nuts etc., and curd which should be replace with butter milk.
8. Diabetic individuals should refrain from taking fat rich foods in any form, roots of all kinds
   like potato, raddish etc.
9. Diabetics and bedwetting children can substitute rice with wheat, jowar and such other crops grown in dry lands to reduce profuse urination.
10. Those individuals with constipation must eat leafy vegetables like spinach, chinese spinach,
    sorrel leaves, amaranthus, and should avoid vegetables causing flatulency as well as prunes.
11. Those individuals with nervous and abdominal complaints must evade vinegar or citric acids.
12. Those with low sexual powers must eat young chicken and eggs and should avoid irritating
    spices like truffles, caviare.
13. Ladies with scanty menses must avoid the use of saffron and cinnamon.
14. Persons with weak stomachs should evade cinnamon, cloves, amomum, pepper, ginger and
    bitter substances.