Swarna Prashana - The Ancient Ayurvedic Method Of Vaccination

 

 Did you know? The ancient ayurvedic method of Vaccination 

 Swarna Prashana

What is Swarna Prashana?

Administration of processed gold in children is a unique practice mentioned in Ayurveda as “Swarnaprashana” by Acharya Kashyapa thousands of years back. He explained evidently the administration of Swarna (gold) in children for the benefits of improving intellect, digestion and metabolism, physical strength, immunity, complexion, fertility, and life span. There are various formulations of gold and even along with herbal drugs explained by different Acharya for prolonged usage in children. Swarnaprashana in children can be mainly implicated in two contexts of Ayurveda; Lehana (supplementary feeds) and Jatakarma Samskara (newborn care).

In Swarna Prashana, the ghee and honey are administered in equal quantities along with Swarna Bhasma. The Swarna Bhasma has anti-toxic qualities, it is used in treating poisonous conditions and is useful to improve immunity. Here, ghee and honey in equal quantities act as a very mild tolerable poison given to the child, and Swarna bhasma acts as its antidote So, in a small way, the child is already exposed to poisonous combination and has developed immunity against it.

This is very similar to modern vaccination, wherein a weakened or dead micro organism is introduced, so as to create antibodies against it in the body. This helps in preventing many diseases.

The art or science behind Swarna Prashana as per Ayurveda

In Ayurveda, administration of the gold particles in children is considered to be a unique practice termed as swarna prashana. The term swarna refers to gold and prashana refers to consuming or ingesting. Therefore, swarna prashana refers to the act of consuming or ingesting gold in the prescribed dose and quantity. Gold is one among seven metal categorized pure metals which is mainly used for preventive and curative purposes. The benefits of children, who consumed swarna prashana, improve their intellectual, digestion and metabolism, physical strength, immunity, fertility, and lifespan 

In swarna prashana, gold particles are encapsulated by honey, ghee, and herbs, and it helps the gold particles to form into various size, shape, charges, and composition. This irregular form of the gold particles in swarna prashana may induce the non-specific immunity by activating both cellular and humoral immunity.  In general, pathogens undergo several mutations naturally or induced by man. Therefore, human system which acquired non-specific immunity will be ready to defend against any pathogens and inflammatory substances that enter or develop in our system. It is evident that gold nanoparticles are efficiently interacting with the target cells in terms of immunological responses and cytotoxicity.

When the swarna bhasma is administered in very low dose for a particular time, it is known to increase the memory power along with immunity. Swarna prashana is easily absorbable in oxide form. There are such confusions regarding the mixing and absorption of swarna bhasma although it is the simplest form. Then, how come the simple ashudha swarna in the crude form gets absorbed is a matter of discussion. So here, swarna may remain unabsorbed in the body and act as an incompatible substance or binding material by playing a significant role in the stimulation of the immune system. Gold has already proved its immune-modulatory effects because of its antibacterial action against different organisms, but when it is mixed with kinds of honey and clarified butter, it widens its spectrum of action to stimulate body immune cells. It is administered orally on an empty stomach, preferably in the early morning. It can be given from birth up to 16 years of age. It is given with clarified butter and honey in a dose of two drops up to 6 months and four drops after 6 months. It can be given daily for a minimum of 30 days and maximum of 180 days. Alternately, it can be given every pushya nakshatra (every 28 days) for a minimum of 30 doses.

Benefits Swarna

Administering small quantities of Swarna causes-

• Medha Vardhana – improvement in intelligence
• Agni Vardhana – improvement in digestion strength
• Bala Vardhana – improvement in  strength and immunity
• Ayushya Vardhana – Improvement in life expectancy
• Mangala, Punya – Auspicious
• Vrushya – Aphrodisiac
• Grahapaha – relieves bad evils.
• By administering Swarna for a month time, child becomes super-intelligent.
• By administering for up to six months, person becomes Shruta Dhara – can remember whatever she hears.

Benefits of Swarna Prashana

1. Swarna Prashana has healing properties, which increase its medicinal value for preventive as well as therapeutic purposes. It has immune-stimulant, adaptogenic, memory booster, anti-inflammatory, antiarthritic, anticancer, antibacterial, antiviral, antimutagenic, antioxidant properties.

2. Swarna Prashana is very helpful for improving memory, retention power, intelligence, intellect, cognitive functions of brain. It affects skin also. It improves skin glow and prevents skin diseases.

3. Swarna Prashana builds physical strength, body growth (height. weight) in children and enhances physical activities and also improves stamina for the same.

4. Regular doses of swarna prashana improves child‟s intellect, grasping power, sharpness, analysis power, memory recalling in an unique manner.

5. It kindles digestive fire, improves digestion and decreases related complaints, improves child‟s appetite and nurture early developmental milestones.

6. Reduces anxiety, aggressiveness, irritability and attention seeking behaviour, and also helps the child with autism, learning difficulties, attention deficient disorder, hyperactivity

7. Animal studies on swarna bhasma revealed its immune-stimulant, analgesic, antidepressant actions. It also used as apasmarahar drug, used in children of cerebral palsy and many other disorders related to development of CNS

Dose based on age

• From 3 months to 2 years – 1-2 drops of (Brahmi Ghrita + Swarna Bhasma) + 2 drops of Honey – for six months and then stop it forever.
• From 2 years – 5 years – 3 drops of (Ghrita+ Bhasma) + 3 drops of honey – for six months and then stop it forever.
• From 5 – 10 years – 4 drops of (Ghrita+ Bhasma) + 4 drops of honey – for six months and then stop it forever.
• From 10 – 16 years – 6 drops of (Ghrita+ Bhasma) + 6 drops of honey – for six months and then stop it forever.
• For above 16 years – 10 drops of (Ghrita+ Bhasma) + 10 drops of honey – for six months and then stop it forever.

Preparation method

Swarna Bhasma is mixed with a Brahmi Ghrita – Ghee made of brain tonic herbs such as

Brahmi – Bacopa monneiri,

Vacha – Acorus calamus

Shankha Pushpi – Convolvulus pluricaulis

Guduchi – Tinospora cordifolia

Yashti madhu – Licorice

Ashwagandha – Indian ginseng etc

       - Brahmi ghrita is a very good brain tonic and immunity booster.

Note : You can even use common cow ghee, in place of Brahmi Ghrita.

So, it is a mixture of Brahmi Ghrita (ghee) plus Swarna Bhasma.

Usual mixing proportion is –

1 gram of Swarna Bhasma (1000 mg) in 100 ml of Brahmi Ghrita.

Usually 2 drops of this ghee mix is administered along with 2 drops of honey. This makes the total dose of Swarna Bindu Prasha to be – 4 drops. Most of the Ayurvedic centres prescribe 4 drops as the dose.

2 drops of ghee mix would contain around 1 – 2 mg of Swarna Bhasma

Best time to administer:

Morning, on empty stomach. Do not give anything for 15 minutes after administering this.

The best suitable time to give swarna prashana to children is early morning before sunrise

The art or science behind Swarna Prashana as per modern science

Swarna prashana is related to the smaller gold particles perhaps containing wide variation in shapes, sizes, charges, and bio-molecular compositions. These particles retain high stability, low toxicity, and immunogenicity conjugation due to the molecular ingredients found in ghee and honey. The molecular ingredients contain sugars, amino acids, proteins, lipids, vitamins, and other components. Moreover, these components help in capping the gold particles in swarna prashan which exhibits multivalent interactions between the particle and membrane receptor of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) such as dendritic cells. Targeting these dendritic cells is considered to be one of the efficient strategies in promoting immunotherapies and vaccine development. Therefore, the plausible mechanism of swarna prashana in interacting with dendritic cells is as follows: dendritic cells opt several mechanisms in the internalization of swarna prashana particles including receptor-mediated endocytosis, pinocytosis, and phagocytosis. Immature dendritic cells will uptake and internalize the swarna prashana particles in the cytosol. As a result, immature dendritic cells differentiate into mature dendritic that causes expression of CD83 and CD86 and also morphological changes in the maturation of the dendritic cells . The internalized particles, namely, antigens, are processed in the cytoplasm and initiate T cell response based on antigen presented through MHC complex . Interestingly, swarna prashana particles comprise of mosaic features in terms of size, shape, charge, and composition of the particles which results in intercellular trafficking in dendritic cells Therefore, dendritic cells present multiple antigens effectively to the T cells. It is believed that the activated dendritic cells and T cells require soluble cytokines including IL-7, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-23, TNF, and IFN to exhibit immunogenic response. The potential application of swarna prashana in immunomodulation is the development of both prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine. Ancient scripts have suggested that the colloidal preparation of swarna (gold particles) with honey and ghee would significantly induce robust immunity like vaccines. Gold particles are the most promising ones which do not affect living cells and do not produce adverse effects. It is believed that gold is used in ayurvedic, herbal, and herbo-mineral preparations for the treatment of chronic and degenerative disease without any side effect. The advantages of biodegradable gold particles are utilization in the vaccinated organism, high loading efficiency for the target substance, enhanced ability to cross various physiological barriers, and low systemic side effects. In all likelihood, the immune actions of biodegradable nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles as corpuscular carriers are similar. The recent data indicating low toxicity of gold nanoparticles makes it being used in the development of next-generation vaccines. However, no extensive studies on animals or cell lines model are available, and further clinical trials are required on interaction of swarna prashana particles and human functions.

Genral information 

Acharya Sushruta cite administration of Swarna along with honey and ghee in one among the procedures of Jatakarma Samskara that is, as a single dose at birth in the procedure of new born care. He provided the rationale behind this practice that there will be no adequate secretion of breast milk for the first 4 days after delivery and so as to support the baby with respect to preventive and nutritive aspects such practices are indispensable. Acharya Vagbhata advises to give a combination of herbal drugs in a specific shaped spoon as that of the leaf of holy banyan tree, made up of gold to the newborn for increasing Medha (intellect). Administration of Swarna along with other herbs is also mentioned by Acharya Vagbhata in Jatakarma Samskara.

Side Effects

Sometimes due to smell of medicine and different taste, babies may vomit it. Except this, no other side effects have been reported

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2) Ayu. 2014 Oct-Dec; 35(4): 361–365.  PMCID: PMC4492018

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6) International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research (2017), Volume 8, Issue 11,  E-ISSN: 0975-8232; P-ISSN: 2320-5148 

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