NAADI PARIKSHA (Pulse Examination):
The VAIDYA who doesn’t possess the skill of NAADI Pariksha doesn’t qualify to be called a VAIDYA(simply speaking he is a quack). This line is enough to summarize the importance of acquiring the skill of NAADI Pariksha for an Ayurvedic expert. In our GURU SHISHYA PARAMPARA, utmost importance has been given in gaining this skill. In ancient times nearly every renowned Ayurvedic specialist had to master this ART. Due to historical reasons , Ayurved suffered heavy setbacks and expertise in various skills were lost in varying degrees. This is one of the reasons why this skill is not mentioned in some classical texts. It was only in the medieval period that we find detailed mentioning of this skill. This in no way indicates that this skill was extinct. Since it was and it remains the most important tool in Ayurvedic diagnosis, there were many practitioners who were very skilled Naadi experts. Such experts kept this skill alive and passed it on to next generations.
Why is this skill so important? Though the reasons are numerous, we would like to highlight a few
a. Diagnostic tool: Even though texts have mentioned detailed methods of examination which include history taking, examination of the tongue, urine ,stools, palpation, eyes and general/specific appearance of body, NAADI Pariksha can give a precise information of the diagnosis , grade of severity of disease, prognosis, efficacy of the medicines used( so that the expert can change his treatment accordingly), uncovering the hidden information of the patient and disease etc. and all this within few minutes. Also in seriously ill patients, the expert can calculate the time he has in hand in order to save the life of the patient.
b. Warning of the disease: Ayurved has always emphasized on the preventive aspect of treatment. Just imagine a scenario where the patient has come for a general examination or for some trivial complaint and the expert detects some major ongoing disease process on Naadi. Thus he can warn the patient beforehand about this and suggest precautionary measures or treatments. If the patient has enough faith in him, he will definitely benefit from this advice and either start the treatment in the initial stage thus ensuring complete success or he may be able to prevent the disease from further development.
c. Unique skill: In spite of all technological advances, we at amoghsanjeevani continue to see many patients who have not been diagnosed appropriately even after doing extensive investigations and spending scores of money. Why? Because everything cant be demonstrated. Modern doctors themselves acknowledge this fact that investigations should always be seen in correlation with other factors. Many diseases cant be evaluated by investigations only and many investigations don’t imply precisely. In such cases NAADI PARIKSHA can surely help in diagnosis and most importantly treatment.
Thus we can see that an Ayurvedic expert who has mastered this skill is more precise in his treatments . Such an expert uses modern investigations, still he is not totally dependent on them only. He judiciously uses all these tools to his advantage since he recognizes each ones strengths as well as limitations. He understands that a needle and an arrow have different uses. It must be remembered that Ayurvedic Naadi Pariksha is different from modern Pulse examination in many aspects. Though it may feel that in this age of technological advances this ancient skill would be lost soon,the truth is exactly the opposite. This art has survived through all these ages and people continue to come to us for their diagnostic evaluation. The height of expertise in Naadi pariksha cannot be measured and the expert goes on learning and learning more. Hence he doesn’t claim to have achieved perfection. Instead he always strives for excellence, thus sharpening his skills which ultimately help his patients.
