Foreword

Gandhiji had a passion to tend the sick and serve the poor. He valued life close to nature for its simplicity and evolved and practised simple rule's of health. He had almost a religious faith in vegetarianism which led him to carry out dietetic reform based on pragmatic results obtained from personal experiments. He was tremendously influenced by the writings of Dr. Kuhne on Nature Cure. He believed that human body, mind and spirit could be maintained in a state of perfect health by observance of simple rules. He attempted to discover causes of ordinary ill health and improvised simple remedies of Nature Cure. He established a Nature Cure Centre at Uruli in pursuance of his belief that the poor could not aftord costly medicines and remedies and that he owed it to them to let them have the benefit of his lifelong experiments in Health and Hygiene.

The human body is a wonderful and perfect machine. If it gets out of order, it can set itself right without medicine, provided it is given a chance to adjust itself. If we are not abstemious in our habits of food etc. or if our mind is agitated by passion, emotion or anxiety, the body cannot eliminate all the refuse and that part which remains uneliminated turns into toxins whose presence gives rise to symptoms which we call disease. Disease is an attempt of the body to get rid of toxins. If the body is helped in the process of elimination by fasting, cleansing of the bowels by enemas, baths and massages, the body could be restored to its normal health. This is in brief what Gandhiji meant by Nature Cure.

This book contains a valuable collection of Gandhiji's thoughts on Nature Cure etc. and is indeed as rich in its information as it is constructive in its outlook. I commend this book for serious study by all those who are interested in cure of ailments through natural remedies.

Morarji Desai
30th November, 1954