Hindu Medicine c5.s3.21

c5.s3.21

Almost simultaneously with these studies Zimmer published two articles on psychotherapy.¹⁰ India practises both, medicine of the body and medicine of the soul. But, while the former lies in the hands of the lay physician, the latter is practised by the priest; it is enshrined in the ritual that governs every act of life. Varying according to the various types of men—there is a hierarchy of rituals as there is a hierarchy of castes—, these ceremonies aim at the prevention of the sickness of the soul, they aim at a macrobiotics of the soul, just as lay medicine is concerned with a macrobiotics of the body, "the knowledge of the perfect and long life."¹¹ Thus, the "Guru," or housepriest, teaches the mother through a ritual, "the giving