Substance of Homeopathy

From the Book

In his earlier work "The Spirit of Homoeopathy" Rajan Sankaran delved deep into homoeopathic philosophy and introduced many original ideas of great value to the practitioner.

That book, while generating some controversy, was very well received by the profession and has won much acclaim. Starting where the "Spirit" left off, this much awaited book rekindles the flame of homoeopathy – the spirit flows into the substance.

In the "Spirit" Rajan presented his concept of disease as delusion. Here, he shows how delusions can be classified using Hahnemann's theory of miasms. With numerous illustrative cases, he shows how this classification can be used as a map of disease to facilitate remedy selection.

Next, a detailed study of homoeopathic drugs with reference to their source reveals the purpose of the traditional classification into plant, animal and mineral kingdoms.

The results of a detailed study of the periodic table are presented which show the relation between chemistry and homoeopathy, underlining the scientific basis of homoeopathy. The mineral remedies are studied in detail and with cases, call forth vivid images to mind.

A number of recent drug provings conducted by Rajan in his seminars all over the world are included, which give a new insight into these drugs. After a study of some plant and animal remedies, there follows a differential analysis of drugs from the various kingdoms – this study will prove a landmark in the homoeopathic field.

Finally, many original ideas on homoeopathic philosophy are expounded, chief among these being his thoughts on how and why organic pathology develops.

Rajan has drawn from his vast clinical experience to give us many original and thought-provoking ideas. Lucid though succinct, and copiously illustrated with cases, the book will be of interest to all serious students of the healing art.

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Details

The Substance of Homeopathy, by Rajan Sankaran, was published in 1994. This book presents Sankaran's theory of miasms as it relates to the homeopathic treatment of disease.

It also discusses the Periodic Table and it use in homeopathic practice. An added bonus is the set of 4 cassette tapes that are to be used with the proving of music chapter.

Within Sankaran's study of chemistry and homeopathy is a presentation on mineral remedies detailed through case examples. He also provides a differential analysis of drugs from the plant, animal, and mineral kingdoms.

In the last section, Sankaran attempts to apply homeopathic principles in a coordinated fashion as a 'homeopathic approach to life".

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Heritage

In this book, which builds on Sankaran's previous work, the author offers an expanded theory of the miasms, along with other typologies, mostly those of the mineral remedies, using the periodic table as a way to deduce "themes" in the remedies.

The first third of the book concerns itself with a delusion-based interpretation of the theory of miasms intended for diagnostic use, and a system of classification by delusion for the purpose of finding the simillimum.

The rest of the book introduces the concepts of the differences between the remedies from the different kindgoms (animal, vegetable and mineral) and how one can use the behaviors (and "situation") of the patient to point the way to the kindgom in which the remedy for the case exists.

Julian Winston writes:
These two works (The Spirit and The Substance) by Sankaran have become the popular "cutting-edge" of homeopathy and have led to more and more speculative musings about the remedies needed in the case - the information gleaned not as much from the case but by the synthetic overlay of the kingdom analysis and the perception of the core delusion.

The path is fraught with danger, especially in the hands of those with little grounding in materia medica, who see these methods as an easy way to find remedies.

As "essence" prescribing was the password in 1980s, the "core delusion" and "kingdom analysis" became the "hot ticket" in the 1990s.

From:
The Heritage of Homoeopathic Literature
copyright 2001 by Julian Winston
Reprinted with the permission of the author

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Author

Rajan Sankaran

(1960 -     )

Dr. Rajan Sankaran was born on May 24, 1960, in Mumbai, India. Inspired and nurtured by his father, Dr. P. Sankaran, Rajan graduated Gold Medallist from the Bombay Homeopathic Medical College in 1981. He is the Assistant Professor in the department of Repertory in Smt. C.M.P. Homoeopathic Medical College, Mumbai and is attached to its hospital as the Honorary Physician.

He is the Editor of the Asian Edition of the Homoeopathic Links and is also the Vice-Chairman of the International Council for Classical Homoeopathy (Asian Region).

Throughout his twenty years of practice Dr. Rajan has worked to unearth a system for homeopathy that gives consistent results. He has given us the classification of remedy states into kingdoms and has added miasms to the already known ones.

His concept of disease as a Delusion changed the process of case taking from mere data collection to understanding the patient beyond the physical level.

In the year 2000 Dr. Rajan began work on classification of the Plant Kingdom remedies, and also introduced the concept of Vital Sensation. His findings further extended his ground breaking approach to classical homeopathy.

Dr. Rajan has taught since 1986, in UK, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Austria, Australia, Russia, Greece, USA, Germany, New Zealand, The Netherlands and Spain. He is affiliated with the CMP Homoeopathic Medical College.

Dr. Sankaran has written the following books:

• The Spirit of Homoeopathy
  which explains his concept of disease as a state.
   
• The Substance of Homoeopathy
  which explains his idea of miasms, classification of states, as well as his idea of classifying remedies and states into kingdoms.
   
• The Soul of Remedies
  in which he has given his understanding and essence of a hundred remedies.
   
• Provings
  a compilation of the provings of eleven remedies.
   
• The System of Homoeopathy
  which gives a detailed report for over 40 successful cases and explains, step by step, his system of working with cases using the concepts of delusions, miasms, and kingdoms.
   
• The Sensation
  Sankaran's homeopathic understanding of kingdoms, potency, miasms and case analysis.
   
• Sensation Refined
  continues with the work started in The Sensation and clarifies issues faced by practitioners of his method.
   

In addition to publishing his own books, Dr. Rajan also edited the works of his father, Dr. P. Sankaran, creating two volumes called Elements of Homoeopathy.

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Reviews

Two Reviews:
1. LINKS
2. THE HOMEOPATH


LINKS
Reviewed by Beat Spring

"I like to share what I had the joy of discovering for myself" - indeed this book reads like a personal notebook of a man on his quest for more and more knowledge. And Sankaran, who combines a very clear thinking mind with a free and creative spirit, has substantial insights to share.

His searching mind seems to move in two directions - an attempt to find order in the vast pool of knowledge:

- a big section is dedicated to the miasms, which Sankaran presents with a new, deeper an exciting understanding.

- another major section deals with the 'natural order of drugs'. He presents the common theme of the mineral, plant and animal kingdom. The keyword for the plants being 'sensitivity', for animals 'competition' and for the minerals 'structure'. He relates the homoeopathic characteristics of the minerals to chemistry's periodic system (in this making a link to chemistry) and illustrates this with case examples and materia medica.

In both the miasms as well as the natural order of drugs, the background of his reasoning is not a philosophising for its own sake, but rather the attempt to find new ways to practise homoeopathy even more efficiently.

The other direction seems to be aimed at expanding present knowledge:

- a proving of music (different ragas proved in seminars in different continents; these ragas come on cassette with the book) is presented, as well as new (group-) provings of snakes.

- bothered with the question why different homoeopaths come up with different prescriptions for the same patient, Sankaran concludes that we are still prescribing for the symptoms and offers more ways on how to approach a case to really get to its depth.

This book is a gem, for the experienced homoeopath as well as for the beginner. For the student it offers a glimpse into the wide range of possibilities homoeopathy has to offer after the basic skills have been learnt; for the experienced it may be a welcome stimulus to expand their own framework and find new challenges to learn, experiment and grow.

The only task which is left to the reader is to distinguish what has been born from long experience and thinking, and what is just a new experiment waiting to be validated in future. "I present these ideas and concepts with the hope that they will be studied with an open mind, yet critically. The ideas in this book are neither complete nor final."

This book invites one to enter upon an exciting journey, a journey tin which one may play with possibilities and search for the truth beyond dogma and limitations.

Homoeopathic Links - Summer 1994
Reprinted with permission from Homeopathic Links
http://www.antenna.nl/homeolinks/



THE HOMEOPATH

This book arrived just before the copy date so there has not been time to commission the comprehensive review it deserves. This book follows on from The Spirit of Homoeopathy published two years ago.

In it, Sankaran discusses his understanding of the miasms, including 'lesser miasms' like the leprous and malarial ones, and the link between remedies sources and their symptomatology. His concept of the use of the Periodic Table is discussed at length as is the idea of understanding compound remedies by studying their component parts.

He also covers some of the other subjects presented at recent seminars like music provings and the difference between remedies and patients belonging to the different kingdoms - plant, animal, mineral and nosode.

This book should have a very enthusiastic reception, it is a denser, in some ways more mature book than Spirit, and contains a lot of excellent materia medica. Concepts are illustrated with numerous case examples.

Eight or nine years ago how those who attended Rajan's first seminar in this country recognised him as an exceptional teacher. His seminal lecture on the 'central disturbance' from that time is reproduced at the beginning of the book and his concept of 'disease as delusion' is elaborated on in a lot of detail.

Whether you agree with his ideas or not, Rajan provides plenty of food for thought in his latest book - I look forward to studying it in more detail.

The Homoeopath No.53 1994
Reprinted with permission from the Society of Homeopaths

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Contents

Introduction -- 3-6
The Story of this Book -- 7-10
What is to be cured in Disease -- 11-18
Historical perspective -- 19
The Purpose of Classification -- 19
Understanding Miasms -- 20-24
Survival Response -- 25
Physical Expressions -- 26
Correlation with Other Classifications -- 26-27
Personality Types -- 28
Physical Symptoms of the Miasms -- 29
Physical States, Delusions & Miasms -- 30
Pathology and Miasms -- 31-32
Multimiasmatic Disease States and Remedies -- 33
Separate States -- 34-36
Classification of Remedies According to Miasms -- 37-45
Application of the Miasm Theory -- 46-49
A New Repertory -- 50
Miasms in Between Main Miasms -- 51-57
A Proving of Ringworm -- 58-61
A Proving of Bacillinum -- 62-70
The Nosode as the Center Point of the Miasm -- 71
What we Learn from Miasms -- 72-73
The Concept of Miasms: A Sumary -- 74-78
Illustrative Cases -- 79-100
Introduction -- 101
Metals as performers -- 101-102
Period 4- first line of metals -- 103-114
Period 5 - Second line of metals -- 115-119
Period 6 - Third line of metals -- 119-122
Aluminum -- 123-127
Brief Introduction to the Periodic Table -- 128-130
Correlation with Homoeopathy -- 131-133
The Cations -- 134-140
The Anions -- 141-149
Salts -- 149-198
Acids -- 199-202
Summary of the Periodic Table -- 202-206
Lac Caninum -- 207-208
Sepia -- 209-211
Naja: A Proving -- 212-224
Crotalus Cascavella: A case study -- 225
Cannabis Indica in California -- 226-232
Staphysagria -- 233-238
A Proving of Music -- 238-264
A Case from Practice -- 265-268
The Physician's Reaction -- 269-272
Picture Behind Pictures -- 273-276
The Totality of Symptoms -- 277-280
State and Pathology -- 281-288
Learning Homoeopathy through Life -- 289-298
The Homoeopathic Approach to Life -- 299-304
Index -- 305-308

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