In the first part of the Ayushakti interview, we saw Dr. Smita Naram talk about the different types of treatments offered at Ayushakti, and the effects of these treatments on their patients.
People from all over the world come to Ayushakti, with the hope of getting cured and ridding themselves of their disease and pain. International patients to a certain extent can be accommodated in the clinic itself. There they have to follow a pre-planned routine for their treatment and diet. The clinic serves these patients with specially made food in their Swadshakti restaurant, located in the clinic itself. The Indian patients have to follow similar Ayushakti treatments, but from the confines of their own home. The Ayushakti home remedies are very simple to follow, and consist of things which can be easily found in one’s kitchen. It eliminates the use of complicated combination’s and mainly focuses on simple things that can be commonly found in the kitchen.
Great efforts are made by the entire Ayushakti crew to adhere to the needs and requirements of the patients and to help them get rid of their ailments as soon as possible. However the way a particular treatment progresses, also depends on the patients themselves. Ayurveda is a slower process of healing as compared to the other forms of treatments, thus it requires great efforts and discipline to follow its treatment sincerely.
We have interviewed the doctor; now let’s hear it from the patients as well. Let’s see what the patients have to say about these treatments and their overall experience at Ayushakti.
1. Virginia: Switzerland
This is my second time. I came here a year ago for about five weeks, and now I am going to stay for four weeks.
I think it has been very good so far. You come here for a better health, and are also made aware of what you can do in your mind, which is more subtle. I think the herbs are really quite magical. They work miraculously.
Yes. I really believe in the Ayurvedic approach. I think Dr. Pankaj and Dr. Smita have developed it to its highest level in this century. It has helped me very much. The pulse reading is better than a thermometer. Thermometer only gives you one aspect of something. I think this has worked well for me, and even for most of the other patients here.
Yes. I just received a phone call from a friend of mine who is in Goa, India. She said she may come next month if she can get in. But it’s very hard to find rooms around the clinic sometimes.
Well, I am familiar with India and I love India. I am very interested in textiles, so my love for textiles brought me to India many years ago. I find it marvelous here. I wasn’t a vegetarian until about two years ago. But when I came to India, I became a vegetarian simply because I liked it better. And plus there are many more fruits and vegetables which can be cooked in so many different ways over here. As compared to the food in the rest of the world that I know of, I find the food here very delicious. Of course, if you are doing Panchkarma, you are on a strict diet, which you would not want to do for 365 days of the year. It’s ancient and it’s been worked out over 3-6 thousand years ago, and it seems to work extremely well.
As far as the ambiance is concerned, I think each time you come here, there is a different ambiance because there are different people here. The treatment women are extremely kind, capable and friendly. That’s quite an exceptional experience for the rest of the world. When you come to a clinic, you wouldn’t find such expertise in everyone.
No. I have come to Ayushakti because of Ayushakti. Otherwise I would be traveling all over India.
Last year when I came to India, I was diagnosed with glaucoma, which means blindness unless you do something about it. But that isn’t why I had come. Actually I was having a lot of infection in my head and sinus problem. I was too dependent on antibiotics, which of course ruins your immune system over a long period of time. So glaucoma was actually something that I thought of mentioning in the second week. I had just been diagnosed by a clinic in Europe and a top specialist. They concluded just before I left last year, that I did indeed have glaucoma and I had to start taking eye drops twice every day. On mentioning this here, I was recommended eye treatments, in addition to substantially increasing the kind of vegetarian diet I was having. So I did that for about 5 weeks and then went back home. There again after fixing an appointment with my doctor, he gave me a list of various tests to conduct. The results showed that one of my eyes was 10 percent better, while the other was 11 percent better. This percentage sort off got me out of the threatening range of glaucoma. When he said both my eyes were better I asked him how often this happens with glaucoma. He looked at me, hesitated and said never! I suppose the optic nerve has to have regenerated new cells, which seemingly most doctors don’t believe can happen. I told him I thought the herbs, treatments and the change in my diet had helped me. So he asked me to come and visit him again in December. When I went for another test, it was discovered that one of my eyes was completely cured. I had a damaged eye from probably a childhood accident, but even that had sort off cleared up, and there was nothing around it, which had appeared to be the case eight months back. So I certainly credit Ayushakti for this. Well if my doctor says never, I can say this is a miracle!
An acquaintance of mine had mentioned that she had been cured of leukemia at Ayushakti. She is a very serious women, and I think she is coming here for the eight or ninth time. But I believe after five years of coming here she considers herself cured and I assume that none of her blood tests indicate any kind of leukemia.
My immune system had gotten damaged because of consuming a lot of antibiotics over so many years that I thought I had to do something about it. Because of all these antibiotics I was beginning to get infections in my head and also in my eyes and ears once every month. For which the only solution was to take more antibiotics, which is also a miracle of science but also the most misused drug.
So I hope to cure the thing that I had come here for. I am feeling much better and stronger now. I had three infections in the past year, which I conquered without any antibiotics. So that is a very good thing. I think my system is getting stronger now. My pulse reader says it is better and this month I was able to see both Dr. Smita and Dr. Pankaj and they both said that they felt I was much stronger.
I am very happy to give any endorsement that I can.
2. Devi Param: U.S.
For the last 20 years, she has been following the Indian culture. She has attended about five Jyotilingams and she says that both, she and her husband visit Indian temples as well.
This is my fourth Panchkarma visit to Ayushakti. I think it first started when I began taking the herbs from Dr. Pankaj. I had a very difficult arthritic condition which was basically eliminated with herbs alone. But then he thought that Panchkarma would also be beneficial for me so I came here and have had quite a lot of success with it. Now of course we are working on another problem, which I am sure they will be able to take care of as well. I have had quite a lot of success with Ayurveda, more much so than any type of medicine. And I think the people that treat you here are wonderful. Both Dr. Smita and Dr. Naram are excellent physicians. Diagnostically they are better than any that I have ever met. I have recommended them to a lot of my friends as well. Many of them have also been here and have been helped. We live in a community in the U.S., so when Dr. Naram comes to the U.S., many of our community people come and visit him. I have had a great deal of success with them, so I would definitely recommend them.
This time around, I am staying on the outside, because there was no room vacant inside the complex. But whenever I stay on the inside I really feel that you are staying somewhere that is remote from the outside world. It’s like a cocoon here. For the people who stay inside, the staff takes care of you. When you come down all your food is here and your treatments are here. It’s a very nice experience. Fortunately I was never very ill, but I have been with people who have been very ill. So I think it is a very nice place to be. Everyone is so concerned about you, from the people in the kitchen, to the boys who take care of your room, to the girls who treat you. They are all very concerned and very helpful. They all make a lot of effort.
We were already practicing Hinduism prior to this. But moong soup is I suppose our biggest change. Moong soup is a kind of a basic food here. It is good for everything! So it is a sort of a staple diet here. Not only do I make it at home, everybody in my community makes it as well. It is sort off like a main dish in our community. I believe if I did whatever I was told to, I would be in better health. It’s much easier when you are here because they make it for you, but it gets difficult when you go home and have to cook it for yourself. It’s not impossible, but you tend to get into a different kind of lifestyle there and it is harder to stick to the Ayushakti diet. I hear it from other people as well. It gets more difficult to continue this regime once you get back home. We do a lot of entertaining and traveling back at home, so it is difficult to stick to this diet. But we are trying to stay within the diet.
Yes. Here you eat moong soup day after day for weeks, so when you get back home, moong soup doesn’t seem terribly attractive. I have been told that it’s the same with people who live here in India as well. It is very difficult for them too, to stick to this food when they go back home. Pressure from family members and friends etc. makes it hard for one to stick to this diet for long. But if I did follow the diet disciplinarily, I would be in much better condition.
3. Igor: Slovenia
I came to know about it from one interview that was published in my country. The interview was of a disciple of Dr. Naram. I made contact with that person and got the address of Ayushakti.
One month all together. My treatment is almost about to last actually.
Well, it’s very hard to say. Basically, I am feeling quite tired now. Some days I feel quite energetic but mostly I feel tired. It could be mainly because treatments are mostly cleansing the body.
Yes, mostly I do.
No. I definitely plan to change; otherwise this trip will be a waste if I return to the old days. Then it won’t be of any use. So I definitely plan to change.
I am not so sure about that. The thing I don’t like about here is that it is quite noisy, because I am so used to nature back from where I am. I am not used to such a hyper city environment. For a few days I think its alright. But for one month it’s gets too noisy.
Yes. True.
I have no complaints about them. The food is great; it only becomes a little boring after eating it daily. But otherwise it’s alright. No problems otherwise.
Your Welcome! It’s been a pleasure talking to you.