Nature Cure E-Book

Rajendra Menen

• Herausgeber: V&S Publishers
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 353

Beschreibung

Therapeutic uses of water, sunlight, air, massage, diet other Naturopathic methods

Leseprobe

DR. J.M. JUSSAWALLA’S DRUGLESS HEALING

Nature

Cure

Rajendar Menen

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© Copyright: ISBN 978-93-505744-4-7

While every attempt has been made to provide accurate and timely information in this book, neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, unintended omissions or commissions detected therein. The author and publisher make no representation or warranty with respect to the comprehensiveness or completeness of the contents provided.

All matters included have been simplified under professional guidance for general information only without any warranty for applicability on an individual. Any mention of an organization or a website in the book by way of citation or as a source of additional information doesn't imply the endorsement of the content either by the author or the publisher. It is possible that websites cited may have changed or removed between the time of editing and publishing the book.

Results from using the expert opinion in this book will be totally dependent on individual circumstances and factors beyond the control of the author and the publisher.

It makes sense to elicit advice from well informed sources before implementing the ideas given in the book. The reader assumes full responsibility for the consequences arising out from reading this book. For proper guidance, it is advisable to read the book under the watchful eyes of parents/guardian. The purchaser of this book assumes all responsibility for the use of given materials and information. The copyright of the entire content of this book rests with the author/publisher. Any infringement / transmission of the cover design, text or illustrations, in any form, by any means, by any entity will invite legal action and be responsible for consequences thereon.

Dedication

The book is dedicated to Dr. J.M. Jussawalla and the Nature Cure movement. “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint,” said Mark Twain. Since the purpose of this book is to benefit humanity, I thank the publishers for making it error free.

Dr. J.M.Jussawalla’s sons Adil and Firdausi wish to honour him, the staff of Natural Therapy Clinic, Bombay, and their beloved mother Mehera through the pages of this book.

Acknowledgements

I thank my parents and immediate family for letting me be. I must also thank Bob Snyder for his critical eye and painstaking efforts at perfection.

Preface

The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.

– Jimmy Carter

Yogis have long understood that the mind and body are thoroughly interwoven, each affecting the other. The mind and body are not in fact separate and distinct but are interdependent components of the whole person. Throughout the ages, the Yogis have taught methods for creating balance. They have long understood that what we think affects the way we feel, and that what we eat, drink and do to our bodies affects the way we think. There can be no separation of function, except for the enlightened adept who has transcended the limitations of the body/mind by assiduous practice of meditation.

–Chris Kilham, Take Charge of Your Health: The Mind/Body Relationship

I began reading about health and nutrition very early in life. As a schoolboy, I kept wondering why people fell ill. And whenever I fell ill, I took the prescribed medication to get well. I was too young, ignorant and scared to question the need for medication. But the big question – why does the human body go off the rails so often? ––– remained, hovering over me like a heavy load. And, of course, I didn’t want to fall ill ever again!

As I grew up, became a journalist and travelled the world, I kept with my search for an answer. I read possibly every book on the subject, met with medical professionals, sadhus, saints, sants, sanyasis, yogis, mendicants, gurus, babas, godmen, alternate therapists, medicine men, shamans, tantriks, miracle men, gypsies, nomads, Bedouins, quacks, intellectuals, and anyone with even a slight slant on the causes and cure of disease.

I also experimented with myself, sometimes with disastrous consequences. I fasted for days on end eschewing even water, adopted auto–urine therapy, checked out the virtues of distilled cow urine, ate different foods, went on all sorts of diets, tried various forms of alternate therapy, did yoga, ran and walked miles, dipped into martial arts, weight training and other exercise regimens, and pushed my body, mind and soul to the extreme.

I lived dangerously.

After decades of research and lifestyle changes, there are a few answers. For one, you are what you eat. Most diseases are born of auto–intoxication. Watch what you put into your body. Everybody’s prakriti is different. So before you decide what is good for you, a little experimentation is necessary. Eat a little less than your stomach can hold, eat on time, eat natural, seasonal, organic, unprocessed food; which means you junk everything that is packed, bottled or even re–heated. Have a wide spectrum of foods focussing on fruits, nuts and vegetables, and after you binge (you are only human), just remember to fast when you feel that you have had it till there!

Exercise is vital. The human body is made for movement. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

Organise your life around a healthy schedule with moderation as the key. We all have our vices and we are all different; no one is smaller or greater than the other. Adorn your day with awareness.

Live in gratitude and love. Enjoy the fellowship of fellow travellers, birds, animals, flowers, trees, the sun, the moon, the wind, water and the stars. After all, we are a part of the cosmos.

Allow your body to heal when you fall ill. The body knows what to do and sends the appropriate signals. Heed them. The human body is made for health and not ill–health. Body intelligence is nature’s intelligence. Respect it.

In sickness, look for options that are not particularly aggressive or intrusive. The human body is a miracle and works in mysterious ways. It can heal on its own. You need to bite the ‘bullet’ only in dire circumstances. Take adequate rest and relaxation. Do not try to change the world; it is unnecessary stress. Start by changing yourself and you will see how difficult – and worthwhile –– it is.

Live with acceptance, in celebration and joy.

Bear no grudges, and trash negativity. Forget, forgive, and ask for forgiveness. Save your soul. ‘Allow the highest aspiration to organise your life’ (The Mother).

Each patient carries his own doctor inside him.

–Norman Cousins, Anatomy of an Illness

Dr. Jussawalla who, in a sense, pioneered ‘modern’ naturopathy in India was a visionary. India has a rich legacy of natural healing, but it was Dr. Jussawalla who married the latest knowledge with appropriate gadgetry. Natural therapists were earlier scattered, went unrecognised, worked in oblivion, and their home grown remedies were rarely documented. There were no systems in place. They had no credible voice and were often dubbed quacks and easily dismissed. It was Dr. Jussawalla who gave Nature Cure a respectable, educated, influential and urbane voice. He was the Indian face, the poster boy of a movement that would soon spread all over the world and give conventional medicine a run for its money. (I say this deliberately as medicare has become one of the biggest businesses in the world grossing billions of dollars annually!)

Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Morarji Desai and several other statesmen and people of stature came to Dr. Jussawalla to heal their tired bodies. The word spread, and as India awoke to freedom, the Nature Cure Movement spearheaded by him took a new pedigree.

Dr. Jussawalla was inclusive in his approach. He wanted all the systems of medicine to work together; this way one could easily dip into the other’s pharmacopoeia for the right cure. He saw the merits in allopathy and knew that it could be a life saver. He was against the taking of life to adorn the palate, and was strident in his opposition to vaccination. He was on several government bodies and made his views known unequivocally.

In 1989, at the age of 82, he was presented the Dhanvantri Award, the first naturopath to receive the prestigious award.

This book is a tribute to Dr. Jussawalla and the Nature Cure Movement.

I begin with Dr. Jussawalla’s life and times for a young audience that may not know him, look at his methods, trace the origins of the Nature Cure movement globally, dwell on the latest, cutting–edge findings, and ponder, finally, the possibility of a ‘disease–free’ man in the future.

The book is filled with contemporary research culled from every available source.

I hope it will benefit the reader.

How to Use the Book

At the outset, I must insist that this is not a self–help book. If you have an ailment, please visit a medical professional for treatment. If you are on medication of any kind, do not stop it without expert advice. The views expressed here should not be interpreted as a substitute for conventional medical treatment. Research in medicine opens new vistas all the time, and we have highlighted some of them. As you know, disease can be a complex process without easy answers.

This book explains, in some detail, the tenets of Naturopathy. Nature Cure has a rich legacy and posits that you are what you eat. The mind, body and soul work in tandem. Imbalances happen and you fall prey to disease. Allow your body to repair itself with the right food, thoughts and surroundings. The healing may not be instant, but it is profound and long lasting. Sickness is as ancient as creation. But modern lifestyle -- with its refined foods, excesses, insufficient exercise and stress – is particularly toxic. Step back, return to nature and simplify your life.

Many Naturopathic methods have been outlined here. Naturopathy has also changed with the times. There is new gadgetry to restore the body to health, and new theories for rejuvenation. Quite appropriately, in our strife- torn times, the importance of wellness has emerged from the woodwork. The circle is now complete. Modern man is tapping ancient repositories of knowledge for answers; along with contemporary scientific research, he is looking at a future with infinite possibilities, even at eternal youth and immortality!

This book will help understand the methods used by Naturopathy which was given a new definition in India by Dr. Jussawalla several decades ago. There are tips on how to lead a healthy life. You can see why Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Morarji Desai, J.R.D.Tata, the Birlas, the Mafatlals, Meena Kumari and several other well-known people resorted to Nature Cure. This book may help you decide if you need allopathy for immediate relief, or if it is a better bet to change your lifestyle and remove the cause of disease altogether from the root.

You will get to know the therapeutic uses of water, sunlight, air, massage, other Naturopathic methods, the right diet, the benefits of fasting, the virtues of vegetarianism, the importance of regular exercise, the value of sleep, the need for fellowship and a mind at peace with itself, the effects of colours, herbs, minerals, vitamins, even the zodiac, the harm from Genetically Modified (GM) foods, and so on. You can also decide if you need to be vaccinated as the dangers of vaccination are being hotly discussed all over the world now. This book will open a window to the latest research on health, nutrition and fitness sourced from the most authentic and – sometimes -- even irreverent health gurus who oppose mainstream beliefs with sound empirical knowledge.

Finally, this book will help you look deep within yourself and, hopefully, make for a healthier, happier you. If that were to happen, we will have succeeded in our efforts.

Contents

Preface

How to Use the Book

Chapter 1 Dhanvantari Award

Chapter 2 A Pioneering Doctor

Chapter 3 Early Years and Influences

Chapter 4 Origins of Naturopathy

Chapter 5 Dr. Jussawalla’s Methods

Chapter 6 Various Drugless Therapies

Chapter 7 Electrotherapy: Electrical Stimulation for Pain Relief

Chapter 8 Heliotherapy: Sunlight for Better Health

Chapter 9 Chromotherapy:Fortifying Health with Colours

Chapter 10 Chiropractic: Employing the Right Healing Pressure

Chapter 11 Osteopathy:Treating the Musculoskeletal Framework

Chapter 12 Chiropractic and Osteopathy: A Comparison

Chapter 13 Vibrotherapy: The Healthy Wake-Up Call

Chapter 14 Orificial Therapy: Bringing about Nerve Balance

Chapter 15 Spondylotherapy: Stimulating The Spine for Relief

Chapter 16 Psychotherapy: Addressing The Mind

Chapter 17 Zone Therapy: Stimulating Prana

Chapter 18 Exercise And Nature Cure

Chapter 19 Massage: Manipulating Body Tissues

Chapter 20 When is Traction Needed?

Chapter 21 Dietotherapy: Healing with the Right Foods

Chapter 22 Fasting: Cleansing the System

Chapter 23 When Should One Fast?

Chapter 24 Vegetarian vs Non-Vegetarian: The Endless Debate

Chapter 25 Herbs in Nature Cure

Chapter 26 Medicines in Nature Cure

Chapter 27 Diagnosis in Nature Cure

Chapter 28 Iridology:Eyeing the Right Diagnosis

Chapter 29 Astro Diagnosis:Health Based on the Stars

Chapter 30 Health over Disease

Chapter 31 Tenets for Good Health

Chapter 32 Auto-Intoxication in Nature Cure

Chapter 33 Nature Cure and Disease

Chapter 34 The Control of Epidemics

Chapter 35 Nature Cure and Vaccination

Chapter 36 Contemporary Global Voices

Chapter 37 ‘Expand Levels of Self-Awareness’

Chapter 38 ‘Observe Nature, Listen to Your Body’

Chapter 39 ‘Animal Foods Contribute to Diabetes, Cancer, Heart Disease & Obesity’

Chapter 40 ‘Do-Nothing Farming’ vs Genetically Engineered Foods

Chapter 41 The Birth of a New Race: Cracking the Immortality Code

Chapter 1

Dhanvantari Award

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.

Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

--Albert Schweitzer

Quoting from the Citation

Dhanvantari Foundation is honoured, happy and proud to make its 17th Dhanvantari Award, symbolic of recognition of the highest merit to you,

Dr. J. M. Jussawalla an eminent naturopath.

Sir, you have the distinction of being the first practitioner of naturopathy in which hoary discipline of medicine you are a pioneer in modern times to be chosen for the prestigious DHANVANTARI AWARD recognised as representing the highest honour conferred on a doctor in India.

Sir, you have devoted a life-time to nature cure and are a naturopath of world fame, who at the ripe old age of 80 plus, go on propagating the prin–ciples of drugless method of curing diseases and demonstrate its efficacy through its application on a large scale. It is not for us to discuss and com–pare the merits of various ways of therapeutics. Suffice it to say that it occupies a high place in the community of kind interests, namely the health and physical welfare of mankind.

In popularising the long-neglected naturopathy, you, Dr. Jussawalla, have played a most notable part. You strongly believe and not without any ba–sis that nothing cures like sunshine, fresh air, hygienic living, simple food which are the keys with which to unlock the hidden resources of strength and vitality in one’s body to remain healthy. The body itself is both a recre–ation ground and a mobile hospital.

To give a biographical sketch born in 1907, you graduated from Davidson College of Natural Therapeutics in England and was appointed an assis–tant to Dr. V. Stanley Davidson of Lindhlar College, U. S. A. After return–ing to India, you found in 1938, the Natural Therapy Clinic in Bombay, of which are still the director. In 1947you were elected the All India Official Delegate to the Golden Jubilee Congress of the American Naturopathic As–sociation. You were also appointed a member of the Planning Commissionon the Health Panel of the Government of India and an adviser to the Gov–ernment of India on Nature Cure, and served on the Nature Cure Advisory Board of the Government of Gujarat State.

You are a Director and President in India, of the International Federation of the Scientific Research Society for the Prevention of Diseases by Drug– less Methods and Fellow of the Naturopathic Forest University where you received your doctorate in physical medicine in 1957.

The honorary director and lecturer at the Physiotherapy Centre for the Blind in Bombay, you are the Vice–President of the All India Nature Cure Federation (Akhil Bharatiya Prakritik Chikitsa Parishad) and a practicing member of the Health Practitioners Association of London, after attaining by examination the required standard in naturopathy, iridiagnosis, oste–opathy and chiropractic. You are also a permanent member of the American Naturopathic Association since 1947 and have been appointed a Special Representative of the International Society of USA Naturopathic physi–cians for India. You are the vice–chairman of the Vegetarian Society, Bom–bay, President of Nature Cure Practitioners Guild (Bombay), and a member of the Governing Body of the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy. You are a member of the Scientific and Financial Advisory Committee (Naturopathy) of the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy.

In these various capacities, besides pioneering in the field of naturopathy you have rendered yeoman services in the cause of its progress in India, which had spearheaded its development in ages gone by. Sir, we hope that your recommendation to the Union Government which has recognised na–ture cure should set up a separate board or panel for the system under the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy for training and registration will be implemented. And also your desire for the establishment of a Nature Cure College with the status of a University in New Delhi with a Hospital attached will be fulfilled before long. Once such centres are opened, the new comers in the field will be enabled to be equipped with the necessary qualifications to tend patients and handle cases with confidence and authority, you further opine. Your advocacy for a uniform code of eth–ics for practitioners of all systems of medicine too will not be in vain, we feel.

Dr. Jussawalla, in conformity with your philosophy of life, you have re–mained a man of simple living and high thinking, besides being a prag–matist, your austerity, kindness to all living creatures, your humane ap–proach to every problem, virtuosity in your calling and faithful adherence to the Hippocratic oath embodying the duties and obligations of physicians, constitute a model for others to follow.

May God grant you long life, health and happiness.

With the above citation, I, as the President of the Governing Council of Dhanvantari Foundation, am pleased to hand over this Award in the shape of a Statuette of Dhanvantari, primogenitor of all medical sciences, to be presented to you now by the Chief Guest of this ceremony His Excellency Shri %. Brahmanand Rgddy to you, Sir, with prayers for a further long period of service to the medical profession and the well–being of society.

The citation, named after Dhanvantari, the God of Health and one of the 24 avatars of Vishnu, was signed by K. Brahmanand Reddy, Governor of Maharashtra, Jawaharlal Darda, Minister for Public health, Sushilkumar S. Shinde, Minister for Finance and Industries, Suresh Chaturvedi, Secretary General of the Dhanvantari Foundation, and Dr. B. K. Goyal, its Founder President.

The Dhanvantari Award was presented to Dr. Jussawalla at a glittering function in Mumbai on Saturday, October 28, 1989. He became the first naturopath to receive the prestigious award and joined an elite band of previous awardees that included Dr. Rustom Jal Vakil, Dr. B.N.Purandare, Dr. C.Gopalan, Dr. B.Ramamurthi, Dr. L.H.Hiranandani, Dr. Christian Bernard, heart transplant surgeon, and Dr. Denton A.Cooley of Houston, Texas, the renowned cardiac surgeon.

Dr. Jehangir Jussawalla was 82 years old.

Chapter 2

A Pioneering Doctor

The Nature Cure man does not ‘sell a cure’ to the patient. He teaches him the right way of living in his home, which would not only cure him of his particular ailment but also save him from falling ill in future. The ordinary doctor or vaidya is interested mostly in the study of disease. The Nature Curist is interested more in the study of health. His real interest begins where that of the ordinary doctor ends; the eradication of the patient’s ail–ment under Nature Cure marks only the beginning of a way of life in which there is no room for illness or disease. Nature Cure is thus a way of life, not a course of ‘treatment’. It is not claimed that Nature Cure can cure all dis–eases. No system of medicine can do that or else we should all be immortals.

-- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Harijan, 7-4-1946

Naturopathy has captured the I world’s imagination today. Alternate therapies are slowly replacing conventional medicine as the first line of medical treatment. But what has now snowballed into gigantic proportions globally began with tiny baby steps. Dr. Jussawalla could well be called one of the pioneers who set the ball rolling. Without a doubt, he was the first to give the naturopathy movement in India a modern touch.

Dr. Jussawalla understood the complexities of the human body well, which, in a way, would always defy comprehension. It would always stay a step ahead of all the medical marvels science threw up. Despite his successes, he made no grandiose claims about naturopathy; he never claimed that it had all the cures for all the ills of the flesh. He insisted, on the contrary, that no system can be a cure–all or even claim to have a monopoly on the truth. Throughout his career, he tried to synchronise different systems of medicine in his theory and his practice.

His major contributions to what he called ‘the art of healing’ were in the fields of accurate, often intuitive diagnosis, diet and a variety of treatments like massage, hydrotherapy, sitz baths, jet and needle baths, sun–lamp therapy and colonic irrigation. Long before the current boom in fitness centres, he offered systematic programmes for weight gain and weight loss through diet and exercises. For most of his six decades of practice at the Natural Therapy Clinic, he offered natural methods of treatments not found in other clinics in Bombay (Mumbai). His aim was to provide every possible form of Nature Cure treatment under one roof. The rash of clinics these days calling for a return to nature as a panacea is ample evidence that what he began –– with some amount of uncertainty and a great deal of opposition –– works!

As his stature as a doctor grew, Dr. Jussawalla was invited to Nature Cure conferences abroad and given important positions. In 1947, he was India’s official delegate at the Golden Jubilee Congress of the American Naturopathic Association, USA. He was on the Planning Commission for the Third Five–Year plan, on the Health Panel of the Government of India and was on the Nature Cure Advisory Board to the Gujarat State Government. He was also an advisor on Nature Cure to the Government of India for many years. He also tirelessly worked with the students of the Victoria Memorial School for the Blind in Bombay (Mumbai) and made several of them successful professional masseurs.

Apart from practising naturopathy, Dr. Jussawalla also believed in spreading the message of Nature Cure and wrote several books, monograms and booklets. He also had the humility to encourage and not debunk or ridicule local systems of medicine which often came up with miraculous cures at a fraction of the cost and time conventional medicine would take to affect a cure. He wanted them to be systemised, and insisted that the cures attributed to such systems should be scientifi cally investigated and not be castigated as mere ‘quackery’.

To systemise natural healing, Dr. Jussawalla made a strong pitch for the promotion of Nature Cure in the Third Five–Year Plan. Way back on August 18, 1960, as a member of the Health Panel, Government of India Planning Commission, he emphatically stated that, “There is a prime need for a teaching and treating institute to standardise the science of nature cure, so that this valuable system as well as its accredited practitioners may secure the legal recognition they deserve as well as the confidence of the public.” In a brochure presented to the government of India he added, “It is high time that the state considered this system that has forged its way to the front on the sheer merits of its commonsense and logic, as well as its intellectual appeal, and recognised its claim. In the interests of public health it has become absolutely imperative that the State does so. Besides improving the health of mankind by pure, simple, natural and harmless remedies, it will lift practitioners from the quagmire of quackery. It will standardise therapeutics and give its seal of a qualified status to nature cure professionals. Once the standard is set, the newcomers in the field will be equipped with the necessary qualifications to handle a case with authority, confidence and safety to the patient. Nature cure is providing as much a thing of public utility as any other medical service.”

Naturopathy has millions of adherents today. Its enormous success as a viable, non–invasive and non–violent healing modality is a tribute to the hard work and determination of a young Parsi doctor who braved the odds, stepped out of line, and spent his entire life living his dream with a rare passion.

Chapter 3

Early Years and Influences

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

--George Bernard Shaw

To get to know more about his early life and influences, I am with Adil, his eldest son and well-known poet, writer and editor, at his Cuffe Parade residence in Mumbai. Sparrows chirp in the balcony as the evening sun patterns artful designs on the wall. We sip green tea and talk.

Dr. Jehangir Jussawalla was born on November 18, 1907 in Temple Road, Lahore, Pakistan, (then British India) to Aimai and Merwan in the Parsi month of Khordad. Aimai was from the well-known Dhanjibhoy Commodore family. Her father was a Khan Bahadur who was almost knighted for his loyalty to the British during the Afghan wars, the Boer War and the Boxer Rebellion. He ran a well equipped Tonga, Mail and Carrying Agency called Dhanjiboy & Son. Thanks to its efficiency, the journey from Rawalpindi to Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, a distance of 200 miles, which earlier took about 14 days could be completed in a mere 24 hours! His tonga transport service and a pony drawn ambulance, called the Tonga Ambulance also often bailed the British out of tight situations during the wars. The British, of course, were more than grateful for all this.

The Khan Bahandur was a colourful personality and wore many hats. He was also a Governor of the Hindu Technical Institute, in Lahore; a member of the Muree Municipal Committee for 25 years, and its Vice-President for about 12 years; he was an Honorary Magistrate for the District, exercising First Class powers, for about nine years. In addition to several other positions, he was also appointed a Life Honorary Member of the Calcutta Light Horse.

He received many awards. In addition to being made a Khan Bahadur, he was bestowed the title -- Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, and for his public services, he was conferred the Kaiser-i-Hind First Class Gold Medal. Additionally, he also had a distinguished Masonic career. “He was a successful, popular and wealthy man. He died in 1911,” says Adil.

The Khan Bahadur had a son and three daughters. He had also expanded his business interests and bought land and property in Mumbai. Aimai, one of the daughters, married Meherwanjee. Later, in 1914, she left Lahore and her husband and came to Pune and later Bombay (now Mumbai) with her four sons — Savak, Kakku, Jehangir and Eruch. One daughter died in infancy. “Bombay wasn’t new to her as she made frequent visits to the city and had many friends. From Bombay she moved to Pune which was cooler, less populated and had more open space,” continues Adil. Jehangir was seven when he came to Mumbai. “By the 1930s the family moved to Hill Crest, Salsbury Park, in Pune. For about 15 years, they lived in different places in Pune. Kakku wanted to be an agriculturist and he bought land in Pune and ran a successful poultry farm in the 1940s. Later, in Bombay, Savak, the eldest, ran an electric shop at Gowalia Tank and Erach ran an air-conditioning set-up. It could easily be said that we were migrants to Mumbai and were a second generation nuclear family.”

Scout Movement

Jehangir had his early education in Lahore and Murree Hills after which he continued his education in Pune. He was a good student but there was nothing exceptional about his early life that could provide a window to the meteoric trail he would later blaze as a naturopath of consequence. But, looking back, circumstances were forging him in that direction.

Jehangir never seriously considered becoming a doctor until he was in his twenties. As a schoolboy, he cycled, swam, played the violin and spent the rest of the time in study. He was shy and kept to himself. To overcome his natural introversion, he was advised to become a Scout which he reluctantly did. The Scout movement inspired him, he liked being a Scout, and after passing a scoutmaster examination when he was 15, was made assistant scoutmaster of the Second Poona Parsi Troop. He also led the Scouts of the Bombay Presidency to a world jamboree in Liverpool.

“When I was at school I used to spend most of my time studying, reading, building up my body and learning,” he mentions in a diary he main-tained. “One day the head teacher of the class complained to my brother, who was mainly responsible for bringing me and my three brothers up, that I was keeping aloof from my schoolmates and that I should mix with them and take more active part in school life. I reluctantly joined the Scouts. I was soon wholly involved in the Scout movement. Its principles and laws greatly impressed me. They emphasised, temperance, character building and self- help.” Much later, he would acknowledge his years as a scout along with the other influences that shaped his life, “My years in the scout movement, physical culture and Nature Cure have all helped me to realise this -- that man’s most rational approach to himself and his prob-lem has always lain along the path of self-control, self- discipline and self-denial.”

Physical Culture

Jehangir, quite like the great yoga guru B.K.S.Iyengar in his younger days, had a somewhat frail constitution. His eyesight deteriorated as a schoolboy and he began wearing glasses which he didn’t particularly like. He also took to physical culture, which was a fad among young Parsis in the 1920s, to build his frail physique. “Father’s heroes were Rustom Pehlwan from an earlier time, to be replaced in the 1950s by the wrestlers Dara Singh and King Kong,” remembers Adil. At age 20, after training at the Southern Command military centre in Poona, he became a physical training instructor at Deccan College. “The hard work and strict discipline of the military roughened me. This made a positive change in my outlook on life and was one of the first steps towards a crucial point in it later,” adds the diary jottings.

But remarkably, a few months before becoming a physical instructor, he found he didn’t need glasses. Jehangir had been in contact with Dr. Bernard MacFadden, the American “father of physical culture” and was prescribed a course of eye exercises. His eyesight was restored to normalcy. If this wasn’t a miracle it was, at the very least, proof that natural methods of healing worked. He could see this clearly. This could well have sowed the seeds of natural healing and given his career aspirations a clear plank to build on. He mentions in his diary: “I used to correspond with Bernard Macfadden and received many encouraging letters concerning the maintaining of health and physical fitness without the use of drugs. His response made me study his eight volumes on physical culture and drugless healing.”

Fateful Contact

In 1929, when Dr. Dinshah K.Mehta, arguably the pioneer of naturopathy in India, who, reportedly, discovered at the age of seven, that “the purpose of life is perfection”, started his Nature Cure Clinic, “with a tap of cold water and a galvanised tub,” as his biographer Sundri P. Vaswani put it, Jehangir was paradoxically one of his first patients. A physical culturist in his younger days, Mehta had a great body which helped enhance his magnetic personality. He posed easily to show off his musculature and also performed feats such as having a car run over him. Later, as he evolved spiritually, he metamorphosed from a conservatively dressed doctor to Dadaji, resplendent in saffron robes, his full white beard reaching halfway down his chest. Mehta also conceived of the Bhagwan Bhojan, Ram Roti and Sita Soup meals which were nutritious and within the means of the masses. These “spiritual meals” were served for eight years in both Houses of Parliament. Mehta also established the Society of Servants of God.

Jehangir had earlier trained under Mehta at his physical culture centre and knew him well. But this time the circumstances were different. He had fallen in love with Nergish, his first cousin, and when his feelings weren’t reciprocated he was distraught. Two bad attacks of influenza had weakened his heart. He needed to get well and reposed faith in Dinshah Mehta to get him back on his feet. His diary dated “October 31, 1929,” reads, “Treatment of fasting, milk diet, exercises under Dinshah (sic) Mehta in Poona.” He adds, on an earlier occasion, “When I heard about Dr. Dinshah K. Metha’s Nature Cure Clinic in Poona I joined it, chiefly interested in exercise there. Later he himself introduced me to the principles of Nature Cure. That was the main turning point in my life. I took a firm decision at a crossroads. But at what cost? Nature Cure at that time (1931) was totally misunderstood and misinterpreted. I went against the wishes of everyone, save my mother. My superiors, relatives and the medical gurus under whom I was going through my pre-medical studies were horrified. So prejudiced were they against this science that my chief doctor-professor warned me not to take such a foolish step, as he called it, towards ‘sheer Quakery’. He considered all practitioners of Nature Cure, nothing less than charlatans.”

Again, Jehangir recovered, and along with the success of the eye exercises was more than convinced that naturopathy worked. He was now well set for a career in naturopathy despite all the initial opposition and scepticism; the opposition, if anything, seemed to have made him more determined. (It must be mentioned here that the Nature Cure Clinic and Sanatorium run by Dr. Dinshah K. Mehta was later converted to the National Institute of Naturopathy (NIN) in 1986 located at Bapu Bhavan on Tadiwala Road. Bapu Bhavan is named after Mahatma Gandhi who had made this Institution his home whenever he was in Pune. The All-India Nature Cure Foundation Trust was established here and Mahatma Gandhi became its life-long Chairman.)

Another Twist

As destiny would have it, this decision to reach out to Dinshah Mehta had far reaching consequences. Jehangir was deeply impressed by Mehta’s personality and principles, and began to take Nature Cure seriously. In February 1931, he joined the clinic as a helper. Jehangir learnt fast and impressed Dinshah with his diligence and hard work. The next year he was put in charge of the Bombay branch of the clinic, at Wassiamal Building, Grant Road. He was asked to manage the Poona clinic in 1934, then the Bombay clinic in 1935. Dinshah was a shikari and would often go on shikars hunting panthers which invaded nearby villages, leaving Jehangir in charge. (Apparently, he discussed the issue of killing panthers with Gandhiji who reportedly told him that the taking of life was necessary in this case.) Jehangir got to know Dinshah’s sister Mehera well during a tiger shoot in Sinhagad, the romance blossomed, and the two got married.

Despite the relationship now taking a new turn, their professional association didn’t last much longer. Jehangir resigned in 1935 itself much to Mehta’s dismay. But he had other plans. He wanted to branch out on his own. By this time, Gandhiji used to regularly come for nature therapy and stayed at Dinshah’s Bapu cottage. Other political leaders also found solace in Dinshah Mehta’s nature cure which grew rapidly in popularity.

To mark his own imprint, Jehangir decided to update his naturopathy skills. He enrolled in the Davidson College of Natural Therapeutics in Newcastle Upon Tyne for a triple-barrelled ND, DO, DC (Doctor of Naturopathy, Doctory of Osteopathy, Doctor of Chiropractic). It was a one-year course and he left in October 1936, exactly a year after his marriage, and returned in October 1937. He went on a Wadia scholarship accompanied by Mehera. The Tatas funded her. Both of them did well and Mehera qualified as a masseuse and assisted Dr. Davidson for a while.

Elite Clientele & Encounters

As time passed, Dr. Jussawalla’s naturopathy was being wooed by the elite of the country. With success and growing accolades, naturopathy became his greatest passion, the very meaning of his existence. His practice thrived, and there was no looking back.

His Natural Therapy Clinic, started at Petit House, Gowalia Tank, on February 15, 1938 and later at Sunama House, Cumballa Hill, drew a wide range of patients. The list included Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Morarji Desai, Vallabhai Patel, Vijaylakshmi Pandit, J.R.D. Tata, Rukmini Devi, the Birlas, the Bajajs, the Mafatlals, Leela Naidu, Prithviraj Kapoor, Madhubala, Nargis, Pradeep Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Meena Kumari, Raj Kapoor, Yusuf Meherally, Governors, MPs, MLAs, business magnates, lawyers, students, film stars, medical professionals, dancers, writers, yogis, wrestlers, high ranking police officers and a large chunk of middle-class professionals and housewives. There were all types: some wanted to put on or lose weight, others just came for the enemas and bowel washes. Many patients needed special kinds of massage for muscular and joint pains, and there were those who came for moral and emotional guidance. Dr. Jussawalla believed in treating the whole patient with diet and nutrition. He believed, as he said in his acceptance speech when he was given the Dhanvantari Award, not just in normal health, but ABSOLUTE POSITIVE HEALTH.

Yusuf Meherally came to him “a dead man,” in Dr. Jussawalla’s words, a terminal case too late to save. He spent six months at the clinic and died there. Morarji Desai, whose fasts he sometimes supervised, was a good patient but difficult to like. He admired Jawaharlal Nehru despite being roundly scolded by him once on account of Morarji. “You’re playing fast and loose with the CM’s life! You’re starving him!” Nehru shouted on the grounds of a house in Juhu where Morarji was temporarily staying. Dr. Jussawalla tried to explain that fasting wasn’t starving, and before he could offer an explanation Morarji arrived on the scene, his face glowing. He had gone for a brisk walk. Nehru relented. Adil recounts the event. “Nehru landed in a helicopter and asked about Morarji. Father explained that the fast was to eliminate poisons and before he could complete the explanation, Morarji Desai came in from his early morning walk pink faced and glowing. Nehru, a trifle flustered, said, ‘Okay, okay, carry on’. Morarji Desai was kept on a fast of distilled water, juices and raw vegetables for ten days.”

After the Indo-china war in 1962, Nehru was not keeping well and whenever he was in Bombay, Dr. Jussawalla was at hand to treat him. “One day I received a call from Vijaylakshmi Pandit asking me to intervene and not to allow Panditji to go out,” he reminisced in an interview. When Dr. Jussawalla approached him, Nehru told him: Jusswalla, maine vada jo kar diya (I have given my promise). That evening, despite his frail health, thanks to Dr. Jussawalla’s ‘first aid’, Nehru managed to attend the dance performance of Vyjantimala Bali.

Dr. Jussawalla’s clients also included the cream of Hindi cinema. “Meena Kumai used to visit the clinic along with her sister and one day after the session she didn’t return home. She married a man old enough to be her father. Newspapers made a hue and cry that she was last seen at my clinic,” he recollected light-heartedly to a reporter. So popular was he with Bollywood that Dilip Chitre, the well known writer, painter and filmmaker, once quipped to Adil, “The starlets owe their complexion to Jehangir uncle. He was the natural cosmetologist.”

Mahatma Gandhi & Naturopathy

Dr. Jussawalla had the highest praise for the Father of the Nation who was a great believer in naturopathy. I quote from his diary: “The greatest Naturopathy in our country was no less a person than Mahatma Gandhi. I had an opportunity of coming into contact with Gandhiji in connection with a Nature Cure treatment he was going through and was greatly impressed by his faith, self-control, moral courage, selflessness, and simplicity -- the qualities of greatness. Gandhiji’s attitude to Nature Cure was positive and forthright. After the various long fasts he undertook, he benefited a great deal from Nature Cure. This set him thinking about how to bring its benefits within reach of the poorest villages. He was greatly worried by the high quality of medical treatment. Nature Cure became for him one of his experiments with truth. He opened a Nature Cure centre in a modern size village about 150 miles from Bombay. His aim was to make treatment as inexpensive as possible by getting from Nature her many gifts of healing which those living in big cities had lost.”

In a magazine interview many years later, Dr. Jussawalla adds about Gandhiji, “He did his 21-day fast from a spiritual point of view. I was there with him. Even when his urine started showing acetone, he flatly refused any food. So I put lime juice in his enema, so that he would retain something at least. But that man had such strength -- he had something higher than just physical strength.”