Robert Svoboda on Ayurveda

Dr. Robert Svoboda is the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India. During and after his formal Ayurvedic training he was tutored in Ayurveda, Yoga, Jyotish, Tantra and other forms of classical Indian lore by his mentor, the Aghori Vimalananda. He is the author of twelve books including Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution and the Aghora series, which discusses his experiences with his mentor during the years 1975 – 1983. (Information on all of his books can be found here) Dr. Svoboda was born in Texas in 1953, and in 1972 earned a B.S. from the University of Oklahoma in Chemistry with a minor in French. After being ritually initiated into the Pokot tribe of northern Kenya as its first white member in June 1973 he moved to India, where he lived from 1973-80 and 1982-86, receiving his Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (Ayurvedacharya) from the University of Poona in 1980. In his final year of study at the Tilak Ayurved Mahavidyalaya he won all but one of the University of Poona’s awards for academic excellence in Ayurveda, including the Ram Narayan Sharma Gold Medal. Lyrics to Vikruti: Vata You're feeling tired uptight a pretty sorry sight After years of gas and constipation Craving heat, can't sleep, rings under your eyes No strength and emaciated Deluded and dizzy, even having tremors Talking all the time You're in pain, inflamed, for years it stays the same They test and test, but still it can't be named They suggest treatments but no prognosis You can't even get a real diagnosis It could be a gluten allergy It could be a genetic malady It could be mineral deficiency When you've still got no idea about doshas Kapha Heavy and hazy, lethargic and lazy Body feels loose and cold Poor digestion, salivation and white discolouration You take test after test, for your respiratory distress They suggest treatments but no prognosis You can't even get a real diagnosis It could be autoimmunity It could be a parasitic disease It could be an allergy to trees When they've still got no idea about doshas Perhaps they've misunderstood And it's something from your childhood They just can't seem to do no good And running out of ideas But you're emphatic It's not psycosymatic In fact, you've had it With this Western approach to medicine Pitta Got a burning sensation, yellow discoloration Of your faeces, urine, eyes, and skin So hungry, so thirsty, so very little sleep You take test after test, and the specialists go deep They suggest treatments but no prognosis You can't even get a real diagnosis What could it be? They know what it should be If only you would be A little co-operative surely Gluten allergy? Do bey do bey Iodine deficiency? Do bey do bey Imaginary? Do bey do bey It's nothing officially