ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with an overview of Ayurveda, literally ‘knowledge of life’. In particular, life is described as the “conjunction of body, sense organs, mind and self”. Paradoxically, a “dynamic disequilibrium” or instability maintains the stability necessary for life. The chapter focuses on the theory that underscores modern biology, namely the scientific explanation for the rich diversity of life forms, closely connected to questions of adaptation of organisms to their environment. Darwin’s theory of evolution had brought back to the fore the question of the origin of life, splitting the scientific community into two opposite camps. Alongside putrefaction, other fundamental life-sustaining biological processes were seen to depend on a multitude of factors. In short, Vladimir Vernadsky introduced a “quantitative study of the relationships between life and chemical phenomena of the planet”. After estimating the boundaries of the biosphere in his days, Vernadsky developed methods to compute the amount of energy received by it.
