Benefits of Sattvavajaya Chikitsa

by Dr Raghuram Y.S. MD (Ay) & Dr Manasa S, B.A.M.S

Sattvavajaya which means ‘conquering the mind’ is one among the three elite treatments explained in Ayurveda, the other two being Daiva Vyapashraya – divine or belief therapies and Yukti Vyapashraya – logical therapies. Sattvavajaya and the five inclusive interventions mentioned in the context by Master Charaka including Jnana, Vijgnana, Dhairya, Smriti and Samadhi are the most important and praised interventions in the prevention and cure of mental disorders.

Sattvavajaya has been correlated with Psychotherapy explained in modern medicine.

Related Reading – ‘Sattvavajaya Chikitsa – introduction, meaning and definition’

In this article we will discuss the benefits of Sattvavajaya Chikitsa.

Benefits of Sattvavajaya Chikitsa

Sattvavajaya Chikitsa helps in –

Balancing the doshas of the mind

Sattvavajaya Chikitsa would balance the rajas and tamas attributes of the mind which have become disturbed and have gone out of balance. When these doshas are tamed, the mind becomes calm and serene and the person would get freedom from mental disorders.

Enhancing the Sattvika component of the mind

Sattvavajaya Chikitsa, while decreasing the impact of disturbed rajas and tamas qualities of the mind and bringing them to equilibrium, would simultaneously enhance the sattva guna of the mind. This would instill courage, confidence and positivity in the individuals, with the help of which they would conquer their mental ailments and become healthy.

Getting rid of mental disorders

Sattvavajaya Chikitsa is a key strategy for dealing with mental disorders of all ranges including unmada, apasmara, attatvabhinivesha, disorders of rajas and tamas, and disorders caused due to contamination and disturbance of manovaha srotas.

Getting rid of physical disorders and all kinds of psychosomatic disorders

The mind component is invariably involved in physical disorders also. Therefore, Sattvavajaya forms an inclusive strategy in dealing with chronic physical ailments. It is also a good remedy for all psychosomatic disorders.

Balancing Dhi, Dhriti and Smriti components

Sattvavajaya Chikitsa brings a balance in dhi – intellect, dhrti – perseverance, courage and judgment capacity and smriti – memory components, the balance of which is utmost important for the mind to be sane and healthy. It also controls the way they function and operate at different instances and also would prevent further disturbances of these faculties and their functions.

Nidana Parivarjana

Through Sattvavajaya Chikitsa awareness about the causative factors and triggers of the disease can be planted in the minds of those suffering from mental disorders. This awareness will help them in keeping away the etiological factors which will further help them in preventing and getting rid of their mental disorders.

Keeping away from Asatmya Indriyartha Sannikarsha

Unwholesome contact of sense organs and sense objects is one of the main causative factors for many diseases in the long run. Such contacts can occur in three ways – hina i.e. deficit contact, ati i.e. excessive contact and mithya i.e. perverted contact or unhealthy contact of sense organs and objects. Since it is the mind which carries these perceptions to the intellect for further scrutiny and for the soul to enjoy the knowledge of sense objects in a comprehensive way, all these entities in the pathway of gaining knowledge will be disturbed in the process of asatmya indriyartha samyoga or sannikarsha. The prasannata i.e. balance and sereneness of the atma – soul, indriya – senses and manas – mind, which is a parameter to access comprehensive health, will be lost and the person becomes a victim of various mental and psychosomatic disorders. Sattvavajaya Chikitsa will enable the person to keep away from getting attracted to and perceiving the incompatible and unwholesome objects and will prove to be an important gamechanger in keeping the mind and senses in a state of sanity and health.

Preventing Prajnaparadha from preventing one from committing obsessive sins and mistakes

When the dhee, dhrti and smriti components of the mind get imbalanced and diverted from their normal course and functions, the person will not have control on his or her actions. This will lead one to commit prajnaparadha – intellectual blasphemy and become a victim of its untoward and harmful effects. Prajnaparadha is one of the root causes for many disorders. Sattvavajaya will help in trimming and fine-toning the mind so that the person will keep away from ‘conscious mistakes and sins’ and hence will gain immunity from many mental diseases. Sattvavajaya helps one to make a smooth journey amidst oceans of thoughts and also to differentiate between the journey between the thoughts and bringing them into action. It also makes one understand the consequences of various types of actions undertaken. This would help him or her to keep away from sins and mistakes with the help of channelized consciousness and awareness.

The Balancing and regulation of thoughts and emotions

When the raja and tama components of the mind go awry, the person will experience thought volcanoes and emotional turmoil. This can lead to many mental disorders and psychosomatic ailments. Sattvavajaya Chikitsa will help in controlling these untoward thoughts and emotions. This treatment will also regulate the thought process and channelizes one’s presumptions and assumptions in a proper way. It will help the person to fine-tune his objectives and goals of life and also would enable him to take proper decisions at the right time. It also helps one from keeping away the negative thoughts and develop positive thoughts in the process. It also helps in regulation and modulation of one’s thoughts and instills positivity and optimism in their mind.

Achieving ‘chitta vritti nirodha’

Chitta Vritti Nirodha means keeping the mind detached from all the activities and actions which would cause disturbance in it. When the mind is trained to keep away from untoward and unwholesome activities and focus on what is good, the healing comes better and this can be effectively achieved through implementation of Sattvavajaya Chikitsa and the therapies (jnana etc) included therein. Sattvavajaya also helps in keeping one’s mind diverted and detached from unwanted objects and thoughts. It also helps one to regulate and control the mind and keep it detached from unwanted and unwholesome objects and restraining from the ideas of the same. Chitta Vritti Nirodha is also the objective and goal of Yoga. So, Sattvavajaya bestows all the benefits of proper indulgence in Yoga practice. The vice versa is also true.

Understanding Atattva

In the weird games of disrupted rajas and tamas, the person loses his basic intelligence and fails to differentiate between what is true and what is false, between good and bad, between beneficial and non-beneficial and between wholesome and unwholesome things. This is the root source of prajnaparadha that we discussed earlier. This is also the presentation of a serious mental disorder named atattvabhinivesha wherein the person loses himself in a maze of goods and bads. In this condition, as a part of the treatment plan up, Sattvavajaya comes into the play to bring the mind into track.

Making Vikalpa

Sattvavajaya Chikitsa helps a person in micro-analysing the situations to which he or she is exposed to and keeps away from the causes and triggers of the mental condition which they are suffering from. This will help in Nidana Parivarjana i.e. keeping away the causative factors and triggers of mental conditions. It will help persons to invest their mind towards commitment of next actions after analysing and understanding the effects and consequences of their previous actions. This will make the person to think in all horizons and fine-tone his or her dhi component. This would not only restore the right-thinking intellect but also would avoid the person to be wise in taking decisions towards the actions. It would also prevent them from committing obvious and obsessive mistakes and rectify their approach towards similar tasks and actions.

Attaining Atma, Indriya, Mano Prasannata

Pleasantness of the soul, senses (sense organs and motor organs) and mind is one of the indicators of good and comprehensive health. This can be attained through implementation of Sattvavajaya Chikitsa. Sattvavajaya helps in this perspective in ailing individuals for sure. On the other hand, Sattvavajaya Chikitsa is also a choice of keeping one’s mind in a state of balance and health and hence when practiced voluntarily, it can even help healthy individuals. It conditions the mind and establishes mental peace, health and balance. It helps in achieving spiritual wisdom and bliss, provides therapeutic relief for mental and emotional stress and would help the persons to lead a satisfying, peaceful, happy and productive life. The therapy will also help one to keep sync with and maintain equilibrium with the surrounding environment and the conditions in which he lives.

Other Benefits of Sattvavajaya Chikitsa

Jnanadi Bhavas

Master Charaka has mentioned five components of Sattvavajaya Chikitsa. Each one has its healing effect on the mind individually and the collective implementation of these therapies would work wonders in healing the mind comprehensively. They are –

–        Jnana – Spiritual knowledge helps in correcting and balancing the components of knowledge or cognition namely dhi – intellect, Dhriti – courage, integrity or decision-making power and smriti – memory. In this therapy the physician will promote these faculties of cognition and balance them. It also enables one to attain knowledge of self and to introspect. This will further help in attaining self-belief and knowing the value of self-worth. Vagbhata’s Atmadi Vijnanam can be included under this.

–        Vijnana – means worldly or scientific knowledge or scriptural knowledge. This is an educational approach to train the mind of the person and fine-tone it in the direction of attaining a healthy mind. The person will know the pathways of indulgence and renunciation which will help in discriminating between good and bad and adapt them into their lives after proper judgement. It helps in the improvement of understanding, discernment, judgement, consciousness, perception and comprehension.

–        Dhairya – courage, patience – when included in treating the mind, will instill mental balance in spite of the person being under the influence of immense stress. This will help in ‘mind strengthening’ and will help those having weak minds and are timid and lack courage. Dhairya is the installation of courage and determination and warding off unnecessary fears and blocks in the manovaha srotas – mind channels.

–        Smriti – means recalling the objects of past experience, memory. In this, the person will learn to analyze which memories should be stored and which should be flushed out and to differentiate good from bad memories and the impact of the latter on mental health. He or she will learn to cope up with their problems and will learn to keep away bad and negative emotions, stimuli or triggers. It will create immense positivity within.

–        Samadhi – will help in restraining the mind and detach it from its association with worldly objects. Attachment with these unwholesome objects is the cause of all miseries and disorders.

Related Reading – “Jnanadi Bhavas – Fivefold Approach in prevention and management of mental disorders”

Ashwasanadi explained in the context of Unmada Chikitsa

In the context of Unmada Chikitsa i.e. treatment principles of insanity / psychoses, Master Charaka has mentioned a few measures like Ashwasana – assurance, Suhrut Vakya – friendly talks etc measures to calm the mind. They too can be included as part and parcel of Sattvavajaya Chikitsa.

Mano Kshobha Chikitsa: Shock or Psycho-shock therapy

In the same ‘Unmada Chikitsa’ context, Master Charaka has explained about some measures like Trasana – threatening or creating fear or terrorizing the patient, Harshana – creating exhilaration, Vismapana – causing astonishment, Tadana – beating the person etc which generate shock in the mind of the patient. This can be correlated with psycho-shock therapy explained in modern medicine. These measures will help in restoring the patient’s mind and balancing the mind and senses of those suffering from chronic and stubborn mental disorders and hence can be included under the umbrella of sattvavajaya chikitsa.

Pratidwandwa Chikitsa

Through this approach, the emotions are replaced / swapped by another emotion so as to neutralize the former emotion. Here, the person will learn to replace and neutralize one extreme emotion with yet another emotion of opposite nature and that emotion with yet another, until he learns to control his high-end emotions, which are the root causes for many mental ailments. This too helps in conquering the mind and hence can be considered under the umbrella of sattvavajaya chikitsa. Example – kama or desire or lust is replaced by krodha i.e. anger. It also includes working out upon right ideas and substituting the wrong ideas and thoughts with new and positive ones.

Sadvrutta and Achara Rasayana

While sadvrutta will help one to become a responsible social individual and blend with the society and groups which he choses, Achara Rasayana will help an individual to live a meaningful life in a wise, ethical, moral and righteous way and help in developing his personality in a positive direction. When practiced as a part and parcel of life, both will help in restoring and maintaining a healthy mind and hence can be included under sattvavajaya chikitsa.

Conclusion

Sattvavajaya Chikitsa is a special type of mental medicine. Sattvavajaya Chikitsa is a special type of mental medicine. It is a unique non-pharmacological approach towards comprehensively treating mental disorders.

Sattvavajaya means ‘victory over mind’ and its channelization in an ideal way so as to obtain a balance of mental health. It depends on and is achieved by restraining the mind from unwanted desires and objects and directing it towards wholesome objects and thoughts and developing Jnana, Vijnana, Dhairya, Smrti and Samadhi in an ideal way.

The mind is always unstable and fickle in nature. It is a merciless wanderer. This nature makes the mind susceptible to many psychiatric disorders. We have a reference wherein it is said that the body is just like a chariot while the senses are like horses. The mind is like the reins. It is important for the reins (mind) to control the horses (senses), else the uncontrolled senses will be involved / indulged in untoward, unwanted and unwholesome objects which are responsible for mental disorders. Thus, by properly controlling the mind, one can control his or her senses and prevent the mental disorders from manifesting. Sattvavajaya helps in controlling one’s mind and this controlled mind will have the senses in its control without allowing them to deviate or deflect.

In this perspective we can see that sattvavajaya chikitsa is almost similar to Yoga. ‘Yogastu Chitta Vrtthi Nirodah’ (Yo.Su.1/2). The benefits of sattvavajaya chikitsa will be similar to those of Yoga.

Along with these other Yogic practices which will yield similar mind healing effects shall be used as part and parcel of sattvavajaya chikitsa which is often designated as ‘Ayurvedic Psychotherapy’.