6-4-98 DR. VASANT LAD

This charismatic man was one of the first Ayurvedic teachers and practitioners to come to America in the early 1980's. He selflessly began to spread the message of Ayurveda to anyone who would listen. I studied and later taught with him at what was then our school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was the only teacher I have ever met who I could sit and listen to all day long without the slightest sense of fatigue or boredom. He claimed, and later I came to realize that what he said was true, that I was not learning Ayurveda for the first time, but only refreshing it in my memory.

My teaching experience at the school was not so pleasant. Dr. Lad, like most charismatic Indians, wanted to be a guru as well as an Ayurvedic physician, and he constantly parroted the words of J.R. Krishnamurti. Many of the students accepted him as such and saw me as added baggage they did not need. I don't blame Dr. Lad for this development; he was a married man with two children and knew that the school was hanging on by a thread anyway. So he relied on his strong suit and played the guru in most every situation. This usually meant that I was the fall guy when any problem developed.

I finally left my position, against Dr. Lad's wishes, knowing that I would encounter the same problems at his new school being opened in Albuquerque. A year or two later, Lenny Blank, the man responsible for bringing Dr. Lad to America, his virtual personal servant, also left feeling utterly betrayed by the man he had so revered.

By hindsight, it is now apparent that I had to leave not only this teacher, but also the conventional Ayurveda he teaches and represents. If you read my book Ayurveda Revolutionized: Integrating Ancient and Modern Ayurveda, you will appreciate why I reject modern, conventional Ayurveda when it is not used in conjunction with its deeper sister science, The Ancient Eightfold Ayurveda .

Nevertheless, Dr. Lad had a deep impact on my life and I wish him well in his endeavors. He is a most charming, sensitive and intelligent human being and certainly represents the tradition of modern Ayurveda quite well.