Chapter 3 - The Triumvirate of Organizations

The miraculous story of life’s evolution or unfoldment is recorded by biologists and need not occupy us here beyond the recognition of the fact that the process of such evolution has always necessitated the pursuit of the technique of the threefold system of organizations viz, (1) the structural or material pattern, (2) the maintenance-device of the thermal optimum for metabolic functions and adjustment to environmental temperature, and (3) a kinetic or motivating organization of the entire structure for purposes of growth, perpetuation and enterprise Without these forms of its dynamics, life could not have achieved its survival and progress. Let us now consider the full significance of the nature and texture of each of the three devices or organizations that have made for the survival and progressive growth of life

The Matrix or Material organization

There is common ground between science and religion on the question of the primeval abode of life. The aqueous element has been known to be the first resort of life Both vegetable as well as animal life-forms have been born and have dwelt in water before they grew into amphibious and terrestrial species. The seers of the Veda declare that the waters were there in the beginning.—“āpa evedamagna āsu[?]” (Brihad 5-5) From water, God created all living things on the earth. It is the faith of all religions that life spirit dwelt and moved on the dark primeval waters. In Hindu mythology, the creative force Visnu, lay for ages on the milky ocean, till one day it bestirred itself into a creative mood.

In so many ways, the eye of intuition and revelation and that of science as well, have regarded water as the origin and the abode of life:

[Nārāyana Upanishad 1.1]

The matrix of the material pattern that life requires for its abiding and play is provided by water and by none else of the elements of this universe. That is the medium best suited for the vibrant throb of life and for the transmission of its impulses. The body of man and of all plant and animal life is the material ocean on which floats the immaterial spirit of life. This fluid matrix can be poured into vessels of various shapes and its consistency increased or lessened. And life has attempted all those shapes, patterns and the densities needed for its consummate expression and for the release of the dormant spiritual force and the latest product of such life’s enterprise is Man.

Like a spider that has woven its web and has retired into its centre, so has life woven around itself the web of the human organism with its automatic devices of circulation and respiration, its autonomous nervous system and a part of the mind mechanically operating its gears and clutches, leaving the higher life at the centre to contemplate and design its course of further evolution. Thus, there is a whole complex system distributed in its outline under this threefold divisions of body-organization with the sole purpose of maintain ing a uniform and unchanging environment for life, an environment that contains in itself its power of accommodation and adjustment to exogenous as well as endogenous interferences. (Homeostasis of Cannon). This leaves the higher mind of man free to reflect and weave out his patterns of thought for spiritual fulfilment and for his creative imagery in art, literature and science, all calculated to expand the scope and variety of life expression. It is obvious that all the three aspects being component of an indivisible whole are vitally inter-related as integral parts, and changes in any one are bound to affect the rest. But for purposes of their specific knowledge the nature of each of these is to be referred to in terms of quantity or form, the degree of intensity and degree of tempo, respectively.

Modern anatomy and physiology have to their credit a long and persistent career of investigation and study of the human organism in all its complexity and minuteness and they have tracked down the secrets of the human structure and function to the microscopic cells and even beyond. It has, with great diligence, experimented on lower animals and ascertained with approximating certainty the probable human reactions under given circumstances and to given stimuli, this is an essential part of the equipment needed to understand the details of human dynamics but it is by no means all and exhaustive. Man is more and greater than the mere sum total of his body-organizations or cells.

In R.G. Hoskin’s words

“Medicine is now in a transitional phase. The ineptitude of regarding a man as a mere collection of interesting organs is becoming increasingly clear. The personality of their prossessor is more important than his organs no matter what fascinating pathological condition or secretory versatility they may disclose.”

There is, in the first place, an as yet inadequately understood factor of the psyche whose influence on the soma is gaining increasing recognition daily. There seem to be still greater factors as yet not understood, but whose workings are only dimly suspected and observed in crucial moments and special exigencies. Though their intrinsic nature and technique of functioning may defy our present powers of comprehension, yet their net effects are obvious to the discriminative eye. A good part of it is perhaps clear to the mind that is able to observe and appraise these influences from a viewpoint internal to the human organism, while to the clinician these are accessible through intelligent catechistic methods. This presupposes an extensive or inclusive and not an exclusive view of the structure and function of the individual parts of the body. The excellence or otherwise of each part is vitally related to that of every other part and the body as a whole. There is an intelligent and highly sensitive and adaptive principle to which all the body-functions and life-purposes converge and from which emanate the subtle and vital vibrations that uphold and preserve life both in health and disease. In a word, this presupposes a comprehensive or integrated concept of physiology, the doctrine of vitalism as against that of mechanism. For man is more than a machine; and over and above the psycho-somatic organization, there subsists presiding principle which is instinct with awareness and a wisdom beyond the conscious mind

It may sound at first thought as if this doctrine of vitalism were a superfluity intruding into a realm where it were best not to allow it. But on fuller consideration it would be seen that without a recognition of this element, there is a void and inadequacy, a scattered and disintegrated jumble that is belied by the fact of the universal subjective experience of men of an integrated and compact unity of personality. It is here that the beckoning hand of time points to the ancients, to Caraka and Sushruta of India and to Hippocrates of Greece and Galen of Rome. This is not to suggest that India and Greece have followed the same path. Far from it as we shall see Nevertheless their inspiration was derived from a common viewpoint of regarding man as a whole and in the vital inter-relation of his various organs and of the extensive or inclusive nature of the functions of each of them in health and in disease

These analytical results should be cast again into the mould of the synthetic or the integrative view of man. Instead of the data themselves being priced, their ultimate net values ought to be worked out and cherished. The affection or otherwise of each limb and part of the body has inevitable repercussions on the total well-being of the psycho-somatic whole which is man and vice versa. Once this is kept in mind, the natural corollary is to set about discovering the main springs of human well-being and reactions, the sources of living, action and growth as also of resisting disease and rebuilding of loss Once the main springs of life and action are discovered, understood and assessed properly in their values, the rest follows easily and naturally. In the light of this radical knowledge of man, the data gathered assiduously about the various individual components of the body, big and small, get reoriented and yield a richer wealth of wisdom pertaining to the body as a whole as well as of its parts

In the ancient medical thought of India, as we may find from Caraka, Sushruta and other works, this knowledge and observation of the main springs of human life and action and the full appraisement of the functional values of life-expression, the full and detailed classification of the varied signs and symptoms, visible and expressed psychically and somatically of these main planks of life were all important. It was not mere theory. In practical therapeutics too, it was almost everything. As we have already seen, they had grasped by observation and long study of human behaviour and reactions in health and disease, and also by general inference based on the understanding of the unity and uniformity of principles governing the cosmos as a whole and in its several parts, that man like the world around him was governed by a triumvirate of forces and elements well organized. The action of the sun, the waters and the vital air were the proto-types to them of the aqueous, thermal and kinetic organizations of the human body.

Water, as we have seen, was regarded as the source and sustainer of life, the daily purifier and refresher and the elixir of life Water was held so sacred by most ancient races that it became a god and a religion grew about it. (Thales of Greece and the Seers of India). Holiness and purity were acquired through bathing and sipping, and water had to be poured as witness to gifts or vows made.

The counterpart in the body of the water in nature was the body-fluid, the colloidal fluid known as protoplasm. Of the triumvirate that governed the body this was the first essential. In a word this provided the very field for governance and was the substantial structure for the state itself. This is the material organization of the kingdom. This vital fluid forming the vehicle of the life-spirit contains proteins, fats, carbo-hydrates, vitamin and salt, and it constantly fluctuates to adjust to and counter internal as well as external disturbances. This integrative organization regulates constantly the physical and chemical structure of the body-fluid as well as its circulation. It maintains the proper balance between the fluids in the various parts of the body viz, the water bound in the colloidal system of protoplasm, the free water between the cells and fibres as well as the stored water in any water-depot of the body.

Temperature is an essential factor in the maintenance of this natural and uniform pattern and in providing it the scope for vital play, the body therefore is found to possess that mechanism of internal combustion, its heat-generating or thermal mechanism distributed and concentrated as the case may be, in the entire body.

This is a radical aspect and not an exclusive or limited function and quality of any one limb or part of the organism. In the distribution of the function, it may be concentrated here and diffuse there but in its total aspect it balances the thermal production and output to maintain the thermal constant of the whole body. This bio-combustion process is termed the metabolic process. The internal thermal balance is sustained by the anabolic and catabolic processes taking place constantly in the body. Though this thermal element is diffused in the entire body it has also its regions or points of focus. These foci are important to the clinician, for the pathogenic and restorative processes are centred round these points of foci in particular and the entire system in a general way. These general foci are distributed in the body so as to meet the exigencies and functions of each structural system of the body. The Kapha, Pitta as well as Vata, the three factors of the triumvirate that governs the psycho-somatic organism, are apportioned each its pentad of foci in the body. These, as has been already stated, have special clinical significance and are guides and aids in practical diagnostics and therapeutics

We now come to the last and the most important factor of the triumvirate, the factor closest allied to the life-principle and which is the supreme and vital function of the psycho somatic organization. Life is never static even in its most rudimentary states. Even simple existence presupposes an internal dynamics, where action, aspiration and adaptation to environment are involved, the dynamics are all the more complicated. Yet again, where the psyche is dominant and charges the body with the impulses of hope, despair, anticipation and fear and the desire for efficiency, for triumph over opposition and for the joy of achievement, the dynamic organization involving such kinesthetic force must be subtle, many-sided, self-sufficient and creative. This the body-mind does possess and is known as Vata or Vayu, ‘Va’ meaning to move or convey.

The Kapha and the Pitta are relatively static and need at every point of their existence and functioning the co-ordinated impulse and motivation of Vata.

[Śārṅga. Pa. 5.25]

“Pitta is lame and so is Kapha and so also the bodyelements and the excretions. These, like a cloud, go wherever the Vata (wind) carries them”

Claude Bernard states that:

“vital force directs phenomena which it does not produce, and physical agencies produce (in living things) phenomena which they cannot direct”.

This apt remark of that great physiologist has much similarity with the statement of Kapila the propounder of the school of Sankhya.

[Saṃ. Kā. 21]

“(The union) of the spirit (with the nature) is for the contemplation (of the Nature) (The union) of the Nature (with the spirit) is for liberation. The union of both (i.e., the spirit and the Nature) is like that of a lame man with a blind man. The creation is brought about by that (union)”

All life is dependent on Vata, for, it is the up-bearer, impeller, sustainer and operator of life. It is known as the Tantra-Yantra-Dhara. In a chapter, classic in Its pattern and expression, Caraka describes the nature and functions of Vayu both in the cosmic as well as its biological aspects. It is the lord of the supreme principles of life.

The salutary as well as the pathologic aspects of the Vata principle are described by the royal sage Varyovida (Vāryovida) in eloquent terms thus:

[Caraka Sūtrasthāna 12.8]

“The Vata is the upholder of both, structure and function (in the body). It is the very self of the five forms of Vata in the body viz. Prana, Udana, Samana, Vyana and Apana. It is the impeller of upward and downward movements, the controller and conductor of the mind, the inspiritor of all the senses; the conveyer of all the sense stimuli, the marshaller of the body-elements; the synthesizing principle in the body; the impeller of speech; the cause of feeling and audition; the source of the auditory and tactile senses; the origin of all excitement and animation; the stimulator of the gastric fire; the desiccator of the morbid vitia; the eliminator of excrement and deobstruent of the gross and subtle body-channels, the modeller of the fetal form; the sustaining principle of life—all these are the functions of the normal Vata in the body.

“When however, the Vata becomes abnormal in the body, it afflicts the organism with diverse kinds of disorders, tending to impair its strength, complexion, well-being and life, it depresses the mind; impairs all the senses, destroys the fetus in uterus, produces deformity in it, or unduly prolongs the period of gestation; gives rise to fear, grief, stupefaction, depression of the spirits and delirium, and obstructs the vital functions”

It is necessary at this stage to remind ourselves that the science of physiology has passed through several stages of evolution. It was first a static view of the individual and of specific functions of the various organs and tissues of the body Later it was realised that there was an integrative control through the nervous system and the psychic influences and that these parts could not be regarded as functioning separately. Yet again the endocrine secretions opened up newer processes of physiologic and metabolic conditions, having integrative chemical control on the body and new light was thrown on the cellular structure and function We now know that no one part of limb or gland or cell of the body can be viewed unrelated to the rest of the psycho-somatic whole. One kind of secretion is balanced by another and the glands, the tissues, cells and all the other elements are interrelated and controlled by the fulcrum of personality on which the whole organism is fixed. Thus physiology is a total and integrated life-process and though viewed analytically for study-purposes, the comprehensive constitutional view must never be ignored. This triumvirate of Kapha, Pitta and Vata form the general outline of that constitutional pattern or scheme, and all constructive, integrative, assimilative, recuperative and eliminative processes are to be understood in terms of the nature and working of these three principles as an integrated whole. They are all inclusive and complete in their comprehension of the body-mind processes as a whole. Time and space factors vary every moment and hence it is not possible to maintain optimal environmental condition; hence life develops within itself such active organization as can enable the body to adjust immediately and adapt to the variation in the external relation. Moreover life evolves a special protective and survival technique to counteract the inimical environmental incursions.

The Three States of Life functioning in Men

We know all animate life to exist and grow in three different forms, the stationary life of plants, the mobile but instinctive and more or less passive and reflex life of the animal and the discursive, active and creative life of the human. The human body evolved as it is from the most rudimentary life, contains the vital processes of all these three types of life. It contains parts and organs that grow, abide and function like the plants, absorbing food, turning it into energy and discharging the waste products and automatically maintaining the basic body-life uninterfered and unaided by the higher aspect of the mind generally From birth to death the heart, the stomach and the intestines, the liver and other glands go on functioning in their own autonomous nature without constant active impulsion or inhibition from the mind. Nature has managed to keep generally this basic body-mechanism beyond the ordinary mans reach and control.

Then there is the reflex life of man wherein the limb and sense organs execute purposive or protective movements in response to the external stimuli and in defence of the body-life against extraneous incursions and interferences. Much of the normal man’s physical activity and mental and emotional impulses are reflexes and therefore a passive reaction to the external world of stimuli in multifarious forms. This is the part of animal life in man.

Above these two forms of life stands the real human life i.e., the purposive, creative and self-conscious propulsion of the higher mind. It is in the function of the higher mind and the translation into action by deliberate effort that man rises to and asserts his essential humanity. This is the life of the psyche bringing up into play will, determination and discrimination.

Life has so managed to construct man that the basic survival functions are placed normally beyond the control of the individual himself and are an autonomous set of organizations. Thus mans survival is assured even as against himself. This organization is known as the autonomous or vegetative nervous systems including as it does the functioning of the heart, the liver, the intestines and such other vital organs. These organs have an independent functioning of their own and continue to work, given suitable environment, even outside the human body. Thus they represent in man the most primary life-forms of unicellular life, which is the unit of life. The reflex organization controlled by the central nervous system represents the next higher stage of man’s evolution as an animal which reacts suitably to environment, and acts and learns by adjusting to external stimuli. This is the animal aspect of man. It is a passive activity in response to the environment. The full psychic life where the creative forces of his imagination and reason come into play and launch man’s life upon the vast ocean of creative activity, discovering new factors and shaping the environment to this inner impulses, is the fullest expression of man on the human plane.

Thus a human being is effected and expresses himself in all these three aspects of his life while in health as well as in disease. For us who are concerned with man’s pathological manifestations, the varied changes and symptoms that are manifested in these three aspects of man are very important for purposes of diagnosis and treatment. The most sensitive apparatus in him being the psyche in him, such internal symptoms as malaise, mental images and modes, dreams, desires and impulses form the material on which to base our appraisement of a situation. These factors are accessible to the physician only through close questioning and conversation with the patient and presuppose a certain degree of observation, introspection and intelligence on the part of the patient himself. In the absence of these factors, the proper appraisement of a disease condition in its early state is difficult. Thus the psychic disturbances serve as the earliest symptoms that can guide the physician in the diagnosis of a disease condition.

The next stage of diagnosis is referable to the vegetative aspect of our body-organization. Since these functions are mainly independent of the mind and the central nervous system, they evince individual and automatic reactions to disease-affection and try to make suitable adjustments with it. This will be manifest in the form of instinctive inclinations for or against certain tastes, things, articles of diet, heat and cold in order to correct the decrease or increase of a particular structure or function in the body

These two groups of symptoms, psychic modifications and instinctive inclinations are really the prodromal or premonitory symptoms helpful in early diagnosis of the disturbance of health. The study of premonitory symptoms has been given a great importance in Ayurveda and forms an important category in the pentad of diagnostic methods