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  2. Volume 2 I Issue 4 [October To December]
  3. ACHARA RASAYANA AND POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: CONCEPTUAL PARALLELS AND EVIDENCE FOR MENTAL WELL-BEING
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Dr. Abhay Gandhi

ACHARA RASAYANA AND POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: CONCEPTUAL PARALLELS AND EVIDENCE FOR MENTAL WELL-BEING

Background: Charaka describes Achara Rasayana, a “rejuvenation through conduct”, which promises the benefits of Rasayana drugs to a person who lives truthfully, without anger, with compassion, self-control and respect for others. Positive psychology, which emerged in the late 1990s, studies character strengths, positive emotions and practices that improve well-being. Objective: To compare the components of Achara Rasayana with constructs studied in positive psychology, and to summarise evidence that related behaviours improve mental well-being. Methods: Narrative review of the Achara Rasayana passage in Charaka Samhita and its commentary, Ayurveda literature on Achara Rasayana, and selected meta-analyses and landmark studies in positive psychology and behavioural medicine. Results: The qualities listed in Achara Rasayana can be grouped into honesty and self-restraint, compassion and non-violence, generosity and service, respect and gratitude, regulated daily habits, and spiritual practice. Each group corresponds to a character strength or intervention studied in positive psychology. Meta-analyses show that positive psychology interventions produce small to moderate improvements in well-being and reductions in depressive symptoms, that social connection is associated with lower mortality, and that positive psychological well-being predicts longevity. Kindness, gratitude and compassion practices have specific supporting evidence. Conclusion: Achara Rasayana anticipates several central ideas of positive psychology and offers a culturally rooted framework for well-being promotion. It has not been tested as a package. Structured Achara Rasayana programmes should be developed and evaluated using validated well-being outcomes.Keywords: Achara Rasayana; Sadvritta; positive psychology; character strengths; well-being; Rasayana