If in the days of past we lived in a joint family where there is always the grandma around to whom we could fall back and refer to all aspects of life, including raising a child, these days as we live away in the city under forced circumstances for that is where the jobs and business opportunities are ample and opportunities to continue one's studies are made available, where do newly married couples and new parents turn too for advice and tips? Mr. Google of course. Looking around us we see people taking to the net to consult or learn practically everything under the sky. For instance, returning from the clinics we search the net to learn more about our ailment and the medicine dispersed. This has become a highly informed society.
I was fortunate to be referred to a grandma when my eldest daughter suffered a bout of cold that refused to go away even after seeing four doctors and having taken the medicine. The owner of the house I rented brought me to a neighbor of his in the quarters of the Rubber Research Institute in Sungai Buloh. The grandma listening to us voice our worry picked several herbs from her garden, toasted them in a wok minus the oil. She then took the leaves in her palm and squashed the juice out of it. She placed the extracted juice in a Sangu or Paladai, a cup-like utensil with a narrow tip that is used traditionally to feed babies. She forced the juice down the tiny throat of my infant daughter. But before doing so she asked us to feed her a bottle of milk, filling her tummy to the brim. As soon as the juice went in my daughter vomited immediately. All the mucus and phlegm that were accumulated in her nasal cavities, throat, chest, and lungs came out in chunks with the milk she vomited. She asked us to come over another two days after which she stopped the treatment. My daughter was rid of her congestion.
Moving to the present my granddaughter complained of acute pain in her tummy and she would twitch in pain. In the midst of playing she would stop abruptly and hold her tummy. It was pretty apparent that she was in pain. We brought her to a private clinic as it was a Sunday. But as the pain did not subside, we went to the government clinic for a second opinion. Meanwhile, I referred to my friend and Siddha physician Arivananthan over the phone and he gave some tips together with some words of assurance. But she was still in pain. It was painful to see her in pain. We decided to bring her to see the pediatrician at the medical center. He asked to do an ultrasound test that revealed her lymph nodes around her intestines were swollen. Searching for more information regarding this, we learned that,
As part of the immune system, lymph nodes help to protect the body against infection and disease. They store lymphocytes, which are white blood cells that fight infections. When infection occurs, the number of white blood cells increases and the lymph glands swell and become painful. The lymph nodes that are closest to the infection will be the most affected. If the lymph glands of the mesentery (The mesentery is an organ that attaches the intestines to the posterior abdominal wall in humans) react to an infection in the abdomen or the intestine, they will swell and become painful, causing abdominal discomfort. Mesenteric adenitis usually results from a viral or bacterial infection. (Source: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles)
The doctor gave her a dose of antibiotics. Only after knowing the reason for her pain and after the doctor assured us that she would be well upon taking the antibiotic, did we feel calm and reassured. She fully recovered. We are glad that we sought further opinion and that the good doctor recommended doing the test to ascertain once and for all the cause of her tummy pain. The doctors before him had equally done their share in helping to clear a portion of her ailment. The first doctor we saw said she had wind in her stomach and was about to have a fever. She gave her medicine for pain, wind, and fever. She gave medicine to deworm her too. The next doctor told us that her fever had subsided and she was relieved of the wind. Agathiyar had forewarned us that she would not be well for some time but added that she would recover. Although he could have prevented the occurrence but he chose to have us go through the trauma with him watching over us.
When my daughter broke her leg in a road accident while in college, Agathiyar asked us to continue receiving treatment from the government hospital. The orthopedic surgeon in the government hospital suggested a procedure that was new to our circles but was used successfully to mend sports injuries in the US since the early 2000s. The doctor's priced suggestion came as a boon for us, music to our ears for she need not have to undergo surgery. The procedure involved injecting into her leg the concentrating growth factors thrice. It worked after the very first treatment! After subsequent treatments, her fractured bone finally began to mend together. She walks perfectly well today. There are no physical signs or scars indicating or reminding her of having met with the accident.
When she developed fungus growth on her toes, many years back, we sought medical treatment. A cream was given to apply and an antibiotic to complete. The doctor reminded us that if what he gave was not effective in stopping the fungal growth, we should seek a skin specialist. As there was no significant improvement, the doctor asked to see a skin specialist. Meanwhile, I sought the advice of a Siddha practitioner, Dr. Krishnan. He started her on a course of Siddha medicine that gave some relief but new fungal growth appeared in neighboring toes. While waiting for the weekend to pass to see the specialist, I remembered that there was a chapter of the Nadi where the Siddhas could reveal about medical problems, illnesses, and diseases, treatment, and cures. We went to see the Nadi. In the Nadi reading, Agathiyar spoke about her medical problems and advised her to opt for traditional medicine instead of modern drugs. He told her modern drugs and treatment would not bring any relief. Besides that Agathiyar mentioned two traditional preparations Jeeva Sakthi Legium and Vallarai Legium that were available commercially and asks that she adopt certain measures. After taking these medicines and following Agathiyar's advice the fungus that ate into her toe healed and closed up. My daughter was completely cured.
When a senior devotee of his in his sixties tripped and fell at his home the medical center that treated him called him in for physiotherapy. Agathiyar told him to follow his heart in determining the nature of treatment he was to take. He went along with it. He also visited the Ayurveda physician who advised that he continue with the physiotherapy while the physician did his part in treating his shoulder with oil minus the massage. The devotee recovered speedily and is now able to lift his arm and going about his chores as usual.
My mother-in-law had consulted the doctors over her ailments for some time but she was not relieved until the moment she stepped into the office of a Siddha practitioner where upon seeing her facial hair he diagnosed her problems were due to her approaching the menopause phase. She was relieved of her ailment by merely taking organic juices recommended by him.
Agathiyar has always told my wife to sought modern methods of medical treatments in the Sathiram or government hospitals for all her ailments. I on the other hand was pointed to traditional and alternative medicine all the while.
Going by these episodes, it looks like all these methods of treatment either complement each other or at other times, and in some cases, there is the need to strictly uphold either one and drop the other. We cannot afford to speak highly of one means or method and degrade another or vise versa. This clearly shows that there is a need for balance in life. Be it in any field adopting a moderate way saves the day. Buddha too who had gone the extreme way opted to return to the middle way bringing us to have a glimpse in achieving enlightenment. Just as we have night and day, we see the opposites existing and working in tandem: as in static and dynamic as in web pages; as in hardware and software in IT; as in positive and negative in the forces; as in Yin and Yang - two halves that together complete wholeness; as in Siva and Sakthi as colossal energies; and as in man and women to complement each other. One has to find his way to carefully meandering through these opposing forces safely without favoring neither and remaining unattached.
Often nature has the answers too. "The fix is nature itself," says a farmer to botanist James Wong in the episode "The Promised Land" in the series "Follow the Food" on BBC World News when speaking about restoring agricultural land back to its prime condition. There is balance in nature naturally. It's only when we overstep or overdo things that we disturb and violate natural laws. By respecting nature we shall arrive at the "Promised Land."