Catholic Priest & Ayurvedic Doctor

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Priest helps the sick using a 5,000-year-old healing system

 

First posted 03:22am (Mla time) Feb 05, 2006

By Imelda Morales Aznar

Inquirer

Editor's Note: Published on page Q6 of the February 5, 2006 issue of

the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

 

 

REVEREND Fr. Jacob Gnalian has treated about 400 snake bite victims

in his native India. "All got well except one, which I did not want

to accept because it was already too late."

 

Fr. Gnalian is no ordinary doctor, but a practitioner of the ancient

healing system known as Ayurveda.

 

The Catholic priest and Ayurvedic doctor has been practicing in the

Philippines for the past four years. Through the use of Ayurvedic

medicines, diet, exercise, and lifestyle changes, he says that

difficult illnesses like diabetes, asthma, arthritis and hypertension

can be cured.

 

Fr. Gnalian was born in Kerala, India in the 1940s. According to him,

both his mother and her father had a special talent in

medicine. "They have secret herbal medicines, and it's part of

Ayurveda but not the classic Ayurveda," Fr. Gnalian explains. "My

mother can cure hepatitis in three days, and my grandfather can heal

different ailments like wounds and poisoning." They got their healing

knowledge from their ancestors,

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who passed it on to them, just as it was conveyed to them by their

ascendants.

 

Needed expertise

 

"I was interested from the very beginning because I saw all that," he

explains. He saw, for instance, how his grandfather healed bad cases

of burning. Today, Fr. Gnalian's relatives are his patients, too. "My

mother is taking my prescribed medicines, and my brother-in-law, who

is highly diabetic, has been taking my prescription for four years,

and now he is okay."

 

When Fr. Gnalian goes on one of his yearly trips to India, he makes

his diagnoses and prescriptions for family members who need his

expertise. His siblings, three boys and three girls, two of whom are

now religious sisters, are all based in India.

 

Gnalian's birthplace of Kerala is a southern state in India

considered to be the center of Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old Vedic

healing system.

"Kerala is the strongest Christian community in the world," he

says. "One of Christ's apostles, St. Thomas, went to India in 52 A.D.

and started preaching the Christian message in South India,

particularly in Kerala." St. Thomas supposedly established seven

churches and communities there, which allowed the Christian faith to

flourish.

 

Since his elementary days, Fr. Gnalian had felt the desire to "serve

the people.That is my mission," he says. Priesthood naturally came

next, since for him it was the best way to fulfill his mission.

 

In the seminary, Fr. Gnalian thoroughly studied the scripture and the

mission of Christ. "While studying the scripture, I learned that the

mission of Christ is healing—he didn't spend much time in the temple,

he was always with the people, preaching to them and performing

holistic healing." Christ healed the people of their physical, mental

and spiritual afflictions. Likewise, the Ayurvedic approach is not

limited to looking at the symptom of the patient, "but looking at the

patient as a whole, to see the cause of the problem."

 

Priest and doctor

 

Fr. Gnalian's acharya (guru) was a Carmelite brother and doctor of

Ayurveda. When Fr. Gnalian was assigned to the brother's hospital for

his pastoral experience, he got interested in the study, and began to

learn from him. "I was under an acharya when I was in the seminary,

and I learned Ayurveda as I studied for the priesthood," Fr. Gnalian

recounts.

 

When he finished his studies, he began practicing Ayurveda. He was

ordained a Catholic priest in 1971 by His Eminence Joseph Cardinal

Parecatil, Archbishop of Ernaculam, Kerala. As a priest and doctor,

he would say Mass at the church, then see his patients afterwards. He

did this for about 14 years, until he moved to the Philippines in

1984 for pastoral work and for higher studies in philosophy and

theology.

 

He was requested to come on a mission by the bishop of San Pablo.

While in San Pablo, he pursued and completed an MA degree in Oriental

religions and cultures at the University of Santo Tomas. He

remembers, "I came to San Pablo to do parish work in the diocese of

Laguna; but when the mission was over, I felt that it was not

complete, so now I do this," he says with a smile. He completed his

doctorate thesis in Vedic Philosophy, the root of Ayurveda, also at

UST, while serving as the chaplain of various poor communities in

Metro Manila.

 

Driven by his sincere desire to help people, Fr. Gnalian started the

Missionaries of the East in the Philippines. He was a member of

Missionaries of the East in India. It is a religious organization

that aims "to continue Christ's mission in fullness, that is, to heal

the people through a holistic healing process." The local

organization currently has priests and laymen members.

 

Unusual clinic hours

 

In 2001, he established the Sandhi Ayurveda Clinic in Mandaluyong

City, with the help of his good friend, the late Rudy dela Rama.

Sandhi is a research center and health care facility that "offers

cure for diseases for which conventional medicine has no effective

remedy." Sandhi aims "to provide a healthcare program for those who

cannot afford other forms of medical treatment due to their high

cost." Fr. Gnalian spends most of his time in the clinic, seeing

patients for "as long as they are here," he says, referring to the

absence of usual clinic hours followed by other doctors.

 

The Sandhi Ayurveda Clinic brochure states that from the time the

clinic opened in 2001, "many patients have been treated for numerous

diseases—arthritis, asthma, diabetes, psoriasis, eczema and other

skin problems, stone in the kidney, dysmenorrhea, eye problems,

sinusitis, migraine, hypertension, gastric ulcer and liver disorders;

there has been no report of any side effect or complaints."

 

The Ayurvedic medicines he dispenses are produced by reputed

companies in India, patented and registered with the Government of

India. Fr. Gnalian's Missionaries of the East obtains them directly

from the producers. Patients can't get the medicines anywhere else in

the country, they are only available at the Sandhi Ayurveda

Clinic. "In India, I just prescribe the medicines and the patients

can buy them outside because they are available," he says, "But here,

I have to give the medicines myself because they are not available

anywhere else."

 

Getting the required clearances from Department of Health (DOH) and

Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) was not an easy process for Fr.

Gnalian. "But they have approved my proposal and I was eventually

asked by DOH to start Ayurveda here," he says. "I now have a

clearance from BFAD to import more than 100 kinds of medicines in

bulk, and I have clearance to dispense the medicines." These

medicines have been available in the Philippines since 2001.

 

In 2002, Fr. Gnalian was invited as one of the lecturers in the World

Ayurveda Congress in Cochin, India. He was the delegate from the

Philippines in the same congress.

 

Finding harmony

 

Ayurveda has not become that popular among Filipinos, Fr. Gnalian

says, because of the mindset that healing is dependent only upon the

medicine and the doctor, with the patient doing very little work.

 

With Ayurveda, the patient is active in the healing process, and is

responsible for his own healing. "When you are sick, it is because of

a disorder in the harmony of the body, mind and spirit. The patient

needs to cooperate before the healing power will work. You can't be

passive because you are important here—you must be active in eating,

proper exercise, and in taking your medicine."

 

This way, the immune system becomes stronger and the person can be

healed properly. "The difference between Western medicine and

Ayurveda is that Western medicine treats symptoms, while Ayurveda

treats the cause."

 

Healing the body also means healing the spiritual or mental aspect of

the person, as well. As with Christianity, faith is an important

factor in Ayurveda. "You need faith in God, faith in yourself, and

faith in your medicine."

 

Financial support

 

Fr. Gnalian has been doing his missionary work practically on his

own. "In the beginning, I was told that there will be financial

support from the government," he says. But nothing came his way. It's

a good thing that the Indian community, and the Indian ambassador in

particular, recognizes his endeavors. Individuals whom he had helped

in the past have also extended some form of support to the cause,

providing, for instance, a venue for the Ayurveda Wellness Weekends

he conducts.

 

Aside from serving as his clinic, the center in Mandaluyong is also a

venue for yoga sessions and rejuvenating therapies, and a place of

counseling for wellness and healthy food management, and even

Ayurvedic treatment for the HIV virus.

 

The secret, according to this priest-doctor, is to "go back to nature—

that is the meaning of Ayurveda." Fr. Gnalian advises the sick to

follow the law of nature. "When you change your way of life, then you

will be healthy."

 

* * *

 

Sandhi Ayurveda Clinic and Research Center is located at 414 Calbayog

Street, Mandaluyong City, tel. no. 531-0559.

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