Monday, December 29, 2008

Dr. R. S. Agarwal


I previously mentioned that Bates teachers are usually just fans of the method who more often than not do not quite understand the concept of the Bates method themselves and talk about “exercises” and what not. But there is one exception. There was a doctor who not only fully understood the principles of Dr. Bates but also integrated them into his practice. Like Bates himself and unlike Bates teachers he happened to be a Doctor of Ophthalmology. He also happened to be a follower of a famous yogi Sri Aurobindo. The name of this remarkable man was Dr. R. S. Agarwal.

Dr. Agarwal founded The School of Perfect Eyesight as part of Pondicherry Ashram in India and he had a phenomenal rate of success. He cured many seemingly hopeless cases that traditional doctors gave up on. Oh yes, and he did not charge for the treatment.

I did some research on Dr. Agarwal on internet and was surprised to find out that there was no information about him. You’ll find a few of his book for sale and that’s about it. Not even an entrance in Wikipedia.

I read Yoga of Perfect Sight and I think this book comes pretty close to Bates. It is actually a collection of essays on vision, kind of like the book of Dr. Bates is a collection of essays from Better Eyesight Magazine, that are put together in a book. Even the style is somewhat similar: lots of case histories and cases of remarkable cure. As a bonus there are also letters of Sri Aurobindo (nothing really to do with vision improvement, but a curious read anyway). This book is very different from "traditional" Bates teachers.

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