Symptoms

If there is contaminated gas and blood in the body which cannot get out, the veins and capillaries around the anus become swollen due to the pressure, and ultimately remain swollen. When this happens it is called “developed piles”. When developed piles appear outside the anus they are called “external”, and when they appear inside they are called “internal”.

When, under pressure of the apána váyu [vital energy controlling the lower abdominal organs], blood starts oozing out of the developed piles, they are called “bleeding piles”. But not all piles bleed. If, instead, they are painful, aching, burning or itching, they are called “dry piles”.

Causes

Constipation due to the defective functioning of the liver is the main cause of piles, but generally no serious ailment can develop for one reason only. Like other serious diseases, piles is a disease of the entire system, so there are many other reasons for its development also. The first and foremost of these reasons is lack of physical exercise and the second is sexual over-indulgence. Straining at stool often aggravates the disease. Remember that without constipation and defective functioning of the liver one can never suffer from piles.

Treatment

Morning – Utkśepa Mudrá, Ud́d́ayana Mudrá, Jánushirasana, Shalabhásana or Mayúrásana, Agnisára Mudrá, Padahastásana and Ashvinii Mudrá.

Evening – Agnisára Mudrá, Bhastrikásana, Sarváuṋgásana, Matsyamudrá, Shasháuṋgásana and Ashvinii Mudrá.

Diet

If the patient of piles feels hungry early in the morning, he or she may eat some sweet or sour juicy fruit. At noon take a lot of leafy vegetables, or soup made from leafy vegetables, along with a small quantity of rice or fresh rut́i [cápáti – flat bread made from whole-wheat flour]. Ol [arum, Amorphophallus campanulatus (Roxb.) Bl.], curd-water, soup, figs, mána kacu, pat́ol, tomato, spinach, green pumpkin (Benincasa hispida Cogn.), láu (Lagenaria siceraria Standl.), and núneshák are particularly beneficial. The patient should drink a glass of curd-water twice a day.

Dos and don’ts

It is not possible to achieve a permanent cure by removing the developed piles through surgery or through stopping the bleeding by any method, because if the root causes are not eliminated, the disease may attack again at any moment, or the contaminated gas and blood in the body may cause some other disease. Therefore, though it may not be improper to employ some temporary expedient to stop severe bleeding at the critical stage, the liver has to be restored in order to obtain a permanent cure. If the liver becomes healthy, the piles will disappear without any treatment.

The patient has to be careful to have a sharp appetite at noon. With piles all extra-alkaline food must be carefully avoided. It is desirable for the patients to avoid eating plantain spathe, plantain flower, plantain fruit or meoyá fruit. At the critical stage of the disease fasting is always recommended. During fasting, plenty of water, and, if desired, sweet or sour citrus juices mixed in water may be consumed. Piles patients should not eat hot [i.e. spicy], salty or rough foods.

Some remedies

1. After defecation wash the anus with alum-water. If one applies slightly-warm neem ghee prepared from tender young neem [margosa, Azadirachta indica A. Juss.] leaves on the developed piles, the disease will be cured within a few days. It is desirable to use this neem ghee at bedtime also.

2. In the early morning take 2 tolas of dugdhakśiirá juice on an empty stomach. This will bring good results.

3. In cases of severe bleeding, drinking 1 tola of kuksimá, or in its absence durbá, juice twice a day will produce good results.

4. A very favourable result can be obtained if 1 tola of husked black sesame seeds mixed with 2 tolas of butter are taken early in the morning.

5. The developed piles will gradually disappear, if, applying a piece of shimúla cotton soaked in kuksimá juice on them like a bandage, they are exposed to the sun every day for a few days.

6. 2 tolas of myrobalan pulverized in cow’s urine, taken regularly along with cane guŕ [raw sugar] over a period of twenty-one days, by licking it, will have a wonderful effect.

7. Slowly sipping old raw sugar of dates, mixed in water, early in the morning, will relieve the severity of piles.

8. Vyápaka shaoca⁽¹⁾ before and after meals is a must for all piles patients.

Footnotes

(1) [[Regarding vyápaka shaoca, the author explains in Ananda Marga Caryácarya Part 2, “The Body”: “Method of doing vyápaka shaoca: At first wash your genital organs; then hands up to elbows and legs up to knees; then, taking a mouthful of water, splash water on the eyes and face at least twelve times. Finally wash the ears and the neck. Do násápána (flushing the nostrils with water) also (only if your stomach is empty).” –Trans.]]