In this episode of “5 Minutes,” Dr. Robert Svoboda explores Sanskrit understandings of health and the deeper meaning of being well established in oneself.

The three words are, in order of importance, arogya, swastha, and sukha. The first, arogya, literally means absence of disease. This is the modern definition of health. If you do not have a disease, why would you go to the doctor? So not having disease is certainly a requirement for being healthy, but it does not necessarily mean that you are truly healthy. It may simply mean that a disease has not appeared yet.

The next definition is a higher one, and it comes from Sushruta’s treatise on Ayurvedic surgery. It describes sama dosha, sama agni, and sama mala kriya. This means that the physiological processes within your body are in a state of balance. Sama means the same, but in this context it means balanced, harmonious, and in a state of equanimity.

When all of your physiological processes are balanced, and when your mind, your sense organs, and your spirit or soul are prasanna, then you can say that you are truly well. Prasanna means satisfied, content, or gratified, like the feeling after a very good meal. It means that your mind, senses, and spirit are not constantly craving something outside themselves. They are able to rest and do not feel that they are missing something that must be found elsewhere.

When your physiological processes are functioning in harmony and your mind, sense organs, and spirit are in this satisfied condition, then you are swastha. Swastha means being established in oneself, and when it becomes a noun, swasthya, it means health.

The third definition of health goes even further. It literally means “good space.” Su means good and kha means space. So sukha means not only that you are happy and not only that you are healthy, but that the spaces in your life are functioning well.

This includes the spaces within your body, which need to be open and balanced. It includes the space of your mind, where you are calm and not constantly driven by craving. It also includes the spaces around you: your home, your workplace, your financial situation, and the relationships between you and the people you love.

These spaces do not have to be perfect, but they should have a certain harmony. There should be a resonance where prana can circulate properly and where your prana and the prana of the spaces around you are in a healthy relationship.

So health begins with removing disease. Health continues when your physiology is functioning in balance and your mind, senses, and spirit are calm and satisfied. Then health expands further when the spaces throughout your life are also brought into harmony.

True health is not simply about an individual being healthy while ignoring everything around them. It is about you and your environment existing together in a relationship of balance, harmony, and proper connection.