Sarkar B K
THE NEED OF AGGRESSIVE HOMOEOPATHY
The spirituality of India is as old as the snow – capped mountains guarding the frontiers of the country. Still Swami Vivekananda had to revivify it and give it a strong lead. Sister Nivedita talked and preached about aggressive Hinduism. And today we perceive the triumphant march of India Spirituality throughout the length and breadth of our country, meeting the challenge of the aggressive. West and throwing out the giant personality of Sri Aurobindo in the attempt of reconciling Spirit with Matter.
The way to progress is not though escapism, not through circumventing and avoiding the onslaught and impact of myriads of ideas facts and problems pressing on the modern mind for solution and synthesis. Expansion is life, stagnation and contraction is morbidity and failure to assimilate and adapt thousand and one environmental ideas and facts is death and annihilation.
Similarly though homoeopathy was perceived as an efficacious therapeutic method since the time of recorded history in the West as well as in the East it was codified and put prominently before the medical profession by Samuel Hahnemann in the fag end of the Eighteenth Century. Boenninghausen, Jahr, Hering and their contemporaries poured their life – blood to spread the dynamic spirit of this new Healing Art throughout the four corners of the world.
Their zeal infected the mind and spirit of those who were open in mind, receptive to new and newer truths and agile enough to carry the torch of homoeopathy in the marathon race of human progress and its fight with death, disease and incapacities. The torch continued to burn brighter till it reached the bands of Kent and his giant colleagues. Kentian age in the American Homoeopathic history can be likened to the great Periclean Age of the ancient Romans. After him came the period of stagnation and vegetation inspite of the solitary efforts of Boger, Roberts and a few of their ilk.
The dynamic spirit of homoeopathy began to wane; nothing of real importance was discovered in its field, drug – proving came practically to a stand – still, progressive vision was clouded and Homoeopathy seemed to lose ground in competition with her rival, the orthodox school of medicine which is popularly known as the Allopathic school.
After them no Vivekananda appeared in the domain of Homoeopathy to keep ablaze its aggressive flame to transmute the recent advances in Medicine into the purest gold of Homoeopathic philosophy and outlook – even though the so – called modern scientific medicine raised more problems than it could possibly solve in the sphere of Science and Art of Medicine.
Homoeopathy took a wrong turn both in the West and in the East. American Homoeopathy is being slowly strangled out as separate Homoeopathic institutions died out due to more than one reason and Homoeopathy came to be taught as an elective course in the still existing Homoeopathic institutions e.g. Hahnemann Medical college of Philadelphia and New York Medical school. When Homoeopathy was thus crowded out is it not inevitable that it will fall on lean and evil days, fail to attract new students and its field for teaching and practice will become contracted and contracted till it reaches almost to a vanishing point.
Though we are disheartened to note the present sad plight of Homoeopathy in America we find a silver lining the dark cloud in the attempts of the American foundation for Homoeopathy and of Mexican and Brazilian to give a fresh life to the decadent spirit of Homoeopathy. But to our mind their attempt is not bold enough in America as they still dream of starting and spreading only a post – graduate Homoeopathic training course.
Times without number we have discussed about the merits and demerits of having exclusively under – graduate or exclusively post – graduate course of Homoeopathic training. Suffice it to say that both the under – graduate and post – graduate course of Homoeopathic training are “sine qua non” of a successful rejuvenation of Homoeopathic teaching and practice.
In India though right start was made by establishing under – graduate course of training in Homoeopathy, and especially in Calcutta, it defeated its own purpose as the whole attempt was half – hearted and envisaged no scheme for upgrading teaching institutions and standardisation of Homoeopathic institutions. That is why the conditions of the present day institutions have not improved and are far below the standard of a modern properly equipped medical College and Hospital.
