Enjoyment
The Caraka-samhitÓ ̄a’srecapitulation of the nature of the happy life pro-
moted by Åyurveda lists a number of forms of enjoyment, including
strength, knowledge, use of sensory capacities and objects of enjoyment,
freedom to achieve, and freedom to move as one likes. The first-listed ele-
ment of a happy life is freedom from physical and mental ailments [CS
1:30.24]. An account of health would lack an essential ingredient of well-
being without the factor of enjoyment. Maslow and Mittelmann note that
an aspect of a healthy personality is “interest in several activities” and
they list among their criteria for psychological health “the ability to derive
pleasure from the physical things in life, such as eating and sleeping.”^84
The idea of enjoyment is applicable in contexts beyond basic physi-
cal and psychological ones. Domains of healthful enjoyment include, for
example, sport and other forms of recreation, appreciation of the beauty
of the natural world, the arts, crafting, friendship and social life, love and
sensuality. Enjoyment can characterize the experiencing of meaning and
well-being derived from one’s work, one’s contributions to family and so-
ciety, and one’s spiritual practice. To take the perspective of the Bhaga-
vadg ̄ıt ̄a’sKarma Yoga, ‘enjoyment’ in these aspects of life is not a mat-
ter of pleasure, but more a sense of satisfaction from carrying out one’s
responsibilities.
The aesthetic enjoyment advocated for health in the Caraka-samhitÓ a ̄
includes the wearing of clean, attractive clothing: “It brings about pleas-
ure, grace, competence to participate in conferences, and good appear-
ance.” Also recommended are the wearing of scents and jewelry for the
experience and expression of pleasantness [CS 1:5.95–97].
Metaphysical and Religious Determinants
Self-identity
Self-identityas a determinant of health signifies the existential problem of
knowing one’s true nature, and manifesting it in one’s being. In the con-
text of health, self-identity encompasses questions about the extent to
which a person’s health-circumstances permit the seeking and actualizing
of Self-nature. In Tillich’s analysis of the meaning of health, self-identity
is integral to the dialectic process of life in physical, psychological, and
other dimensions:
A centered and balanced living whole goes beyond itself, separates itself
partly from its unity, but in so doing it tries to preserve its identity and
to return in its separated parts to itself.^85meanings of health in ̄ayurveda 75