24. Nature Cure and modern treatment

My Nature Cure is designed solely for villagers and villages. Therefore, there is no place in it for the microscope, X-rays and similar things. Nor is there room in Nature Cure for medicines, such as quinine, emetine and penicillin. Personal hygiene and healthy living are of primary importance. And these should suffice. If everyone could achieve perfection in this art, there could be no disease. And, while obeying all the laws of Nature in order to cure illness, if it does come, the sovereign remedy ever lies in Ramanama. But this cure through Ramanama cannot become universal in the twinkling of an eye. To carry conviction to the patient, the physician has to be a living embodiment of the power of Ramanama. Meantime, all that can possibly be had from the five agencies of Nature must be taken and used. They are earth, water, ether, fire and wind. This, to my mind, is the limit of Nature Cure. Therefore, my experiment in Uruli Kanchan consists in teaching the villagers, how to live clean and healthy lives and in trying to cure the sick through the proper use of the five agencies. If necessary, curative herbs that grow locally, may be used. Wholesome and balanced diet is, of course, an indispensable part of Nature Cure.

Harijan, 11-8-1946