Promoting natural way of life

Many people are interested in naturopathy and ‘natural way of life,’ but only few practice it and one such personality is Marakkini Shankaranarayana Bhat.

Marakkini Govinda Bhat, father of Marakkini Shankarnarayan Bhat practiced naturopathy as a hobby. Govinda Bhat used to treat patients at his home at Adyanada, near Vitla, free of cost. As the years passed by, Shankaranarayana Bhat learnt the art and decided to develop it.

‘First in Kannada’

An advocate (now retired) by profession, M S Bhat had a strong attraction towards naturopathy. As a result, he has come up with “Nisarga Jeevana mattu Chikitse,” a huge book on naturopathy or natural living with more than 750 pages which contains 54 chapters and is first of its kind in Kannada, claims the author. “The book is written with the intention of helping common man as well as practitioners,” he adds.

“Our body is like a temple. We have to keep it clean. Nature has provided a powerful mechanism of resistance in the human body which is the power to resist diseases and to cure it. Natural living has more power than any doctor or medicine,” Bhat explains the importance of naturopathy.

Book for all

The book has been divided into five parts and each part deals with principles of nature cure. The first part deals with health and disease conditions in present day.

The second part deals with the principles of nature cure. The third part explains the materials used by naturopaths, mud, water, air, fire, space, satwik food and natural way of living.

The fourth part deals with the various diseases and actual practical treatment in detail while the fifth part gives the history of nature cure, ready medicines made of herbs etc.

The book deals with the theories of food relation to health and disease as well.

More than 100 referances

Speaking to City Herald, Dr M S Ravi, a dentist and son of Marakini Shankaranarayana Bhat says that the book is not a translation but an outcome of years of hard work.

“More than 100 references have been made in the book. Louis Kuone, an American has written many books on naturopathy in English. Some German books also deal with natural way of life. My father collected information from all these and simplified it,” he added.

Now leading a retired life, 81-year-old Marakini Shankaranarayana Bhat is busy with farming.
He has plans to bring out the revised editions of the book in coming years.

“Nisarga Jeevana mattu Chikitse” will be unveiled on February 5 at ‘Shri Bharathi College Sabha Mantapa’ of Nantoor in Mangalore.