Svasthya (स्वास्थ्यम्)

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Svasthya (Samskrit: स्वस्थ्यम्) refers to the concept of well-being and an overall sense of goodness in a human life. Since ages people aspired and strove for a long, satisfying and meaningful life. Well-being (svasthya) and happiness (Ananda) are interwoven concepts in Indian traditions. Needless to say, the nature of well-being and happiness is a matter of debate through the ancient times since their conceptualization and has varied across cultures on a spectrum ranging from hedonic (connected with feeling of pleasure) to transcendent (beyond limits of ordinary experience) viewpoints. In common terms, happiness refers to the positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy and well-being refers to how people evaluate their lives. Philosophers and religious thinkers often define happiness in terms of living a good life, or flourishing, rather than simply as an emotion. In the western context, well-being is limited to bio-psycho-social aspects of human nature whereas in the Indian traditions the spiritual dimension (consciousness and self) brings about a whole new perspective to this topic.

परिचयः ॥ Introduction

Material wealth and affluence, fulfilment of one’s desires, human relationships, development of one’s potentialities and individuality, one’s own psychological state, faith in a religion and spirituality are some of the variables considered as relevant and significant in the context of assessing happiness and well-being. Their importance varies from culture to culture and reflect the socio-cultural differences in the conceptualization of subjective well-being. The Indian concepts of self outline how people feel their identities or self-sense are intricately connected with the physical, physiological and mental dimensions and it is human tendency to remain established at that level. However, some persons either spontaneously or through induction from meditation, yoga and such other practices are able to move beyond these sheaths and narrow self-definitions.

Many factors influence our life style and combine to create serious health hazards. The hectic pace of life, environmental factors, and increasing role of greed etc., (arishadvargas) are making people’s lives stressful. There a dire need to study this area and it involves many modern subject areas such as psychology, medicine, sociology, anthropology etc. Awareness, adoption and practice of healthy lifestyle are the keys to our well-being.

Defining Svasthya

The term ‘svasthya’ includes many aspects such as, happiness, energy, leisure, peace with oneself, contentment and sensitivity to environment. Well-being involves not only happiness and pleasure but also experiencing/feeling satisfaction in life, presence of positive feeling or affect (e g. interest, love, surprise, pleasure) and the absence of negative feelings (e.g. anxiety, depression, stress). Well-being is a matter of how one experiences and interprets one’s life conditions. Money, property, power, social standing and prestige provide us with limited sense of well-being. While material prosperity is positively related to self satisfaction to some extent, left unchecked it undermines the well-being of a person.

Goals of indefinite material prosperity, ignoring the human needs of the surrounding people, developing an attitude of insensitivity due to increasing selfishness only leads to an alienation between people, and thereby societies, to eventually chaos and despair. One should note the interrelationship between the social and behavioral sciences in the well-being of both an individual and the society on the whole. Researchers are presenting new findings that the conceptualization of the nature of happiness and well-being primarily depend on the worldview one holds and this aspect has been uniquely dealt with in the Upanishads and other texts of India.

व्युतपत्तिः ॥ Etymology

The term Svasthya includes स्व (Sva) = self, and स्थ (Stha) = being established. The word svastha in its original meaning refers to being established in one’s Self (Atman) which lead to svasthya, a sense of wellbeing. However, it is also used as a suffix in deha svasthya and manah svasthya, to refer to physical and mental health and wellbeing. Thus it is used as a generic term.

Perspectives on Well-being

Underlying any concept of quality of life and wellbeing is a worldview, which provides a perspective on the nature of man, his place in the universe, and on the nature of the universe. The Vedic and Upanishadic seers emphasized on realizing that which is eternal (nitya) and permanent (satya), rather than going after anything that is momentary (kshanika) and that is liable to undergo decay and destruction (kshara) or impermanent (mithya) in the universe. This was an aspect of the more fundamental quest to know the ultimate truth, by seer and sages of India. They understood and defined the ultimate truth with reference to that which is permanent and everlasting rather than that which is impermanent and transient. They applied this distinction in understanding everything in the universe: physical, biological, psychological, ethical, moral, and so on. They made use of this distinction even to evaluate what is good and not good, what is worthy and unworthy, what is desirable and undesirable, etc. So in defining happiness and wellbeing they applied the same rule.

Indian society is an amalgamation of the materialistic perspective (hedonistic) at one end, the spiritual perspective (transcendental) at the opposite end along and the various blends of materialistic and spiritual perspectives which is the collectivist perspective.

Hedonistic Viewpoint

An exclusively materialist view, Charvaka or Lokaayata philosophy advocates that the fulfillment of desires, particularly of sensory nature, is the sole criterion of well being that leads to pleasure orientation.