22. Nature Cure in Kanchangaon

Nature Cure consists of two parts. Firstly, to cure diseases by taking the name of God or Ramanama and secondly, to prevent illness by the inculcation of right and hygienic living. The report from the village says that the inhabitants are co-operating with them in keeping the village clean. I hold that where the rules of personal, domestic and public sanitation are strictly observed and due care is taken in the matter of diet and exercise, there should be no occasion for illness or disease. Where there is absolute purity, inner and outer, illness becomes impossible. If the village people could but understand this, they would not need doctors, hakims or vaidyas.

In Kanchangaon, there are hardly any cows. That is unfortunate. There are some she-buffaloes. But all the evidence that has come to me so far shows that buffalo's milk is no match for cow's in the health- giving quality. The vaidyas specially recommend cow's milk for patients. Milk is an absolute necessity for health.

Nature Cure implies an ideal mode of life and that, in its turn, presupposes ideal living conditions in towns and villages. The name of God is, of course, the hub round which the Nature Cure system revolves.

Harijan, 26-5-1946