What is Agni?? - Part 4

As we have seen previously about gross digestion (jatharagni)and subtle digestion(dhatvagni). Now we will take a look at bhootagni.

To understand this concept, let us first understand what mahabhootas really are.

According to the Indian knowledge system, the complete universe is made up of 5 elements or mahabhootas which are :

1.        Akash (space)
2.      Vayu (wind)
3.        Agni (fire)
4.        Jala (water)
5.        Prithvi (Earth)

The first principle of ayurveda says that the macrocosm and the microcosm are exactly similar thus suggesting that every element present in the universe is present in the human body.

In the human body there are 5 sense organs (indriyas) i.e. Shrotendriya(hearing), sparshanendriya(touch), chakshurendriya(sight), rasendriya(taste) and ghranendriya(olfaction) which operate only due to these 5 elements.

*These indriyas are not present in the eyes, nose, ears, skin and tongue, but are present in the brain!!! The eyes etc. are only the medias through which they operate. They are nothing but specialized mirrors who reflect the surroundings.

For people in the study of ayurveda or of Darshana Shashtra know of a controversy between Ayurveda and Samkhya darshan. For those who do not know this, let me explain in short.

According to Samkhya Darshana, Indriyas have their origin from Ahamkara (which later on forms mahabhutas as well) and according to Ayurveda, the indriyas originate from the mahabhutas and not from Ahamkara.

Now, this controversy brought me to a sort of dilemma. One one hand, I had complete faith in ayurveda and its arguments made a lot of sense, but on the other hand, what samkhya darshan said also seemed true and its arguments made sense too. The question that put me in a dilemma was that how can 2 seers contradict each other?? Either one of them is wrong, or that in essence both are saying the same thing, but at 2 different levels. More often than not, the latter prevails. I needed my question to be answered, thus I tried to find a connection in both these seemingly non-coherent theories, and to my surprise I found that what both of them say is completely and totally one and the same, just explained on a different level.

Thus, let me try and explain this connection and thus give us a better idea of the nature of existence of these indriyas.

This is really important to understand if we want to understand what bhootagni really is and how it can be manipulated and tapped into for our spiritual advancement.

According to me, Indriyas are in 2 forms just like mahabhootas. There is a parmanu rupa and a karya rupa. Or put in other words, there is a potentially complete Indriya(paramanu rupa) and an incomplete Indriya (which may or may not be going towards completeness) (karya rupa). So the potentially complete Indriya is always present in all beings, be it humans, animals, insects, birds, etc. This is developed from Ahamkara or individualization factor.

Every being is complete potentially and thus every Indriya also has to be complete potentially.

This potential completeness is definitely developed from ahamkara, which is present in all beings. Samkhya explains the completeness of the universe, hence every aspect of it must be taken as potential and not as what has been extracted from it.

Thus this explains the Samkhya Darshan’s standpoint of indriyas i.e that they are complete and have emerged from ahamkara and are present in all beings.

The Samkya Tree showing the formation of Indriyas from Ahamkara

Now to explain what ayurveda says:

According to Ayurveda (charak and sushruta, both):

They say that Indriyas are developed from mahabhutas or from the 5 elements and they have given explanations for the same. One of them is that it shows that the sense organs develop and improve or worsen depending on what you consume, thus proving that when u eat food containing of mahabhootas, u affect ur indriya’s strength, so even indriyas must be made up of mahabhootas. This argument and many such make tremendous amount of sense.

This theory had to be proposed, because if ayurveda accepted that indriyas are ahamkarika, then ayurveda could not treat it, because ego cannot be treated upon by any medicine.

But, what ayurveda really does is that it acts upon the perceptibility of the indriyas and not on the indriyas itself. Herein lies the main difference. Let me try to explain it better.

Ayurveda acts to improve Indriya “perceptibility” in 2 ways:

1.         It clears out and enhances the organ(eyes, nose, etc.) and the path through which the impulse is transmitted, thus improving perceptibility.
2.         It energizes the cortices of the brain responsible for perception, thus improving the perceptibility, but it cannot change or alter the potential of the Indriya.

So, the controversy is only on the superficial level. It is like this: One person says that a tree emerges from the parent tree and the other says that it emerges from the seed.  Or its like saying that every human is complete and someone else removes defects from a person. We must understand that what is said is said in “potential” terms and not in current terms.

Thus, both ayurveda and samkhya, according to me seem totally correct and co-herent, but we need to understand the essence and the context in which this was spoken and debated upon.

I have tried to get this controversy clear, because if we do not understand this, then explaining bhootagni will only entangle your concepts further.

I hope I have done justice to this blog. Please give your ideas and comments so that I may be encouraged or corrected, in both cases, I will be benefitted. In my next blog I will explain what Bhootagni is and how it functions and how it can be practically used and manipulated so as to increase our spiritual growth.

What is Agni?? - Part 3

I repeat the statement I made in my previous blog- “all matter tends towards zero(lower) potential naturally”. This is the rule of entrainment.

In our previous blog, we have looked at a relatively macro perspective, in which we individualized an individual and gave him a collective frequency so as to understand the role and the generality of Jatharagni in converting all that did not match his collective frequency to that which did. Dhatvagni, being more subtle and being included in sukshma pachana(subtle digestion), needs to be understood by dropping the generality and going into detailed specifics of each tissue.

The food that was converted to our collective frequency is now in the form of “ahara rasa”. And from here, we will start our journey of watching it being converted to tissues.

Now, a very important concept is to be understood before moving any further.

Every cell has its own frequency, participates in the collective frequency of the cellular system, participates in the frequency of the tissue, the tissue system, the organ, the organism, and eventually in the universe. Thus every cell functions at all these levels.

 For example, an animal cell present in the kidney and the lung, both work firstly to sustain themselves, which is more or less the same, but when they function to support the kidney and the lung, their work starts differing.

This intelligence of each and every cell and their knowledge of the role they are supposed to play according to their position etc. is universal. We call this universal intelligence as “Mahat tattva”.

Thus, here we see that the cell of the kidney and that of the lung vibrate at a different frequency, even though they appear to be the same structurally. Thus there is always an individualization that is present in every cell and tissue of the body.

Now we will take separate individualizations of each tissues as we know now after so much discussion that each tissue has its own frequency and works in its own way.

The frequency rises gradually from ahara rasa to rasa dhatu to rakta dhatu to mamsa dhatu, etc up to shukra dhatu which has the highest frequency of physical tissues, but sukshma tissues like oja are still higher. The concept of oja will not be touched upon in this series of blogs. (I could write about it later in another blog if you want me to). Therefore, the frequency of ahara rasa as we know, is less than that of rasa dhatu.

Dhatvagni is nothing but the strength of collective processes of entrainment, digestion and conversion of one tissue (or ahara rasa) into another. As each tissue has its individualized frequency, thus, each tissue has to have its own agni. The entrainment that occurs here is passive conversion(refer to previous blog), but active conversion can also take place in case of spiritual, delta and deep delta healing and energy supply where it will take the help of prana and not of chemical enzymes and juices as seen in jatharagni. Now that we know what exactly dhatvagni is, let us understand how it acts.

Ahara rasa in converted into the 7 tissues by two ways:

1. Direct contact entrainment: This is like a just like jumping from standard 1 to standard 6. Here the ahara rasa gets converted to all the dhatus directly. The time taken for completion of entrainment varies here. The time taken for ahara ras to be converted to rakta dhatu is less comparatively, which is round about 2^nd day, and for it to be entrained to shukra dhatu, takes about 7-8 days. Hence, here the ahara rasa directly forms the dhatus through entrainment and the time taken in directly proportional to the difference of frequency between the dhatu and ahara rasa. This is generally seen in “Aushadha dravyas” and this is the exact reason so as to why it acts faster than ahara dravya. “Khale-kapot nyaya” refers to this process of direct contact entrainment.

2. Step-up entrainment: Here, the dhatus are formed one after the other in a proper sequence starting with rasa dhatu and ending with shukra dhatu. The time taken for this step-up entrainment varies depending upon dhatus. For each dhatu, the time taken increases by about five days after digestion, which means that for shukra dhatu, it will take around 30 days. The amount and level of conversion depends upon the purity of the ahara rasa and its “patrata” or its capacity to be converted into higher frequencies. This is generally seen in “Ahara dravyas”

Depending on its capacity, it is of 2 types

a.  Complete Step-up entrainment:- Here the complete ahara rasa gets converted into rasa dhatu, the complete rasa dhatu to rakta dhatu and so on until the complete ahara rasa is converted to shukra dhatu and eventually oja. This is very very rare and only occurs in ideal states. “Ksheer Dadhi nyaya” is based on this exact concept of partial step-up entrainment.

b. Partial Step-up entrainment:- Here, only the pure part of the previous dhatu, that means only that part of the dhatu capable of gaining higher frequency, entrains with the next dhatu and converts itself whereas the other impure parts do not. Here the ahara rasa gets converted into rasa dhatu by entrainment with the contact of the rasa dhatu. Once it equals the frequency of rasa dhatu, hence becomes the rasa dhatu. Now this rasa dhatu comes in contact with rakta dhatu and slowly and naturally, the best portion or the portion that is pure enough for further entrainment goes on to be converted into rakta dhatu, here again it comes in contact with mamsa dhatu and the purer part of rakta dhatu which is capable for higher conversions starts entraining with mamsa dhatu and the process goes on until shukra dhatu is reached after which the process does go on, but gross tissues are not formed but subtle elements like oja are formed. The part that is pure enough to be further entrained and move to higher dhatus is known as poshaka part of dhatu in classical terms and the one that cannot go any further is known as poshya part of dhatu. This “poshya and poshaka” concept does not and can not go beyond partial step-up entrainment and is limited to only this concept. “Kedari Kulya nyaya” refers to this form on conversion of tissues.

As Dhatvagni is a passive entrainment and not an active one (excluding spiritual, delta and deep delta healings), it is a constant as long as the dhatus remain constant. Hence this agni is dependent totally upon the saarata(purity) of dhatus.

I have got some suggestions of making it more interesting. I do not know how to go about making quantum physics interesting, but I have tried using features like Bold, italics and underlining to good use.

I have also tried very hard to try and relate my blog to classical ayurvedic terms and not run away with only explaining it only in terms of quantum physics as I was alleged of doing. 

I do not know how much has paid off and how much is still not clear. Here I have touched upon the concept of dhatvagni. Let me repeat that whatever is written is only an attempt to explain my interpretation which may or may not be correct. The next blog will be of the very important, but less spoken of concept of Bhootagni and the relation and manipulation (usage) of Agni in ancient sciences of tantra spirituality etc.

What is Agni?- Part 2

All matter follows a rule of entrainment, which states that matter tends towards lower potential. Keeping this rule in mind we will follow our journey towards finding answers to our questions.

Let me explain the concept of entrainment in short. Entrainment means in common man’s language, “blending in”. Thus according to this rule, all matter tries to blend in with its surroundings in the best manner possible. This is not forced, but a natural principle of matter. For example, if several pendulum clocks are placed in a room, in some time you will notice that the pendulum of all the clocks start oscillating together. This shows entrainment. Another example is that when a cup of hot coffee is kept in room temperature, then the coffee starts emitting heat to the surroundings, thus cooling off so as to blend in with the surroundings. This is also another example of entrainment. Thus in all these examples we come to know that nature tends towards moving from duality to a state of oneness and from the state of excitability towards a state of inertness. And all this occurs naturally without any external application of force.

Now, in this blog, I will explain in detail, what is jatharagni and its role in our body:

To understand this, we must also understand the principle of individuality, which in classical terms is known as “Ahamkara”.  To try and explain it as simply as possible let me ask some questions to a fictionary person and try and remove the answer from within him. Let me name the fictionary person as say Rahul

Manaan: Do you identify yourself as the computer or phone next to you?

Rahul: No. Because according to me, I am not the phone.

Manaan: Then how much is you and how much is not you?

Rahul: Well, this body, I can call mine but anything out of this does not come within “me”

Manaan: Can you please be more precise?

Rahul: Well, anything beneath the skin including the skin is a part of me.

Manaan: So do you indentify the leaf you just ate is a part of you?

Rahul: No. Not yet, only after it is absorbed by my stomach

Manaan: But it still comes beneath your skin, so how can it be that it is not a part of you?

Rahul: Then I must need to improve upon my definition. Anything beneath the skin including the skin excluding all elements that are within the GI tract including the GI tract is me. So, in short, everything under the skin and outside of the GI tract is identified as a part of my body and not as an alien particle.

Manaan: The boy sitting next to you also has a skin and a GI tract, so do you become a part of him as well?

Rahul: No, he is an individual

Manaan: So what is the factor that individualizes you and him?

Rahul: This factor is known as “Ahamkara”.

Thus, the factor that not only differentiates but also individualizes you from your surroundings is known as ahamkara.

Now coming back to the topic of Jatharagni. To understand this in the right sense, we must know the ways of functioning of jatharagni.

Jatharagni functions in two ways:

1.  Firstly jatharagni digests and converts the “food” which is not a part of the self, into a consumable form which is still not a part of the self. This conversion takes place in two ways.

i. Active conversion: Here, digestive juices, including gastric juices, pancreatic juices, bile etc are secreted to actively help in converting this “food” into a more acceptable form, or in other, more specific words, they help in bringing about rapid entrainment using means of chemical reactions so that the food now starts to blend in with the frequency of the body.

ii. Passive conversion: As we have discussed earlier, the food, slowly and steadily starts entraining itself with the body and the body with the food. This goes on continuously even If digestive juices do not act. The stronger the frequency of the food, the more the body will have to blend in with it, thus, gaining more of its properties (Saamanya Siddhant) and the weaker the food the less the body has to blend in with the food, thus, gaining its properties to a very mild extent. This determines the potency of the food (by potency I do not mean virya, but I mean the power of its properties). Thus we are advised to eat food according to our prakruti, etc (Astau ahar vidhi visheshayatanani) so that, that food already has a frequency closer to our current frequency and can blend in easily giving desired results.

Thus this is one way of functioning of jatharagni, out of which only one part is what we thought, in the previous blog as jatharagni.

2. Now, when the food is actively and passively converted to the frequency of the body, Ahamkara acts on the food (converting it to the body’s frequency itself is ahamkara, but it does not act completely in the first stage). In the first stage, the food becomes in the form of convertible energy. Now in the second stage, only that portion which has completely been entrained is accepted and absorbed by the body and the other part is thrown away eventually.

Now, the question arises that why is it that generally liquid portion is absorbed and stool turns out to be solid? The answer to this question is that liquids, due to their increased intermolecular space can more easily and rapidly be entrained and its absorption is very easily done, but solid being more dense takes time to be entrained and not all of it is generally entrained.

Thus, now we realize that jatharagni is not matter that we can see or find in the body but is the strength of collective processes of entrainment, digestion, conversion and absorption of food.

I have only written about the details of Jatharagni in this blog. I will write about dhatvagni, bhootagni and their use in spirituality, tantra, aghora, etc in my further blogs.

Please feel free to comment on my blog and on my thought process and please correct me if u find anything that is wrong and if you do not understand any of the concepts, feel free to ask.

What is Agni??

Here, in this blog, as in my previous blogs, we will try and understand concepts related to ayurveda and try and think of them thus getting clarity of mind.

All ideas that i am expressing are only my interpretations which may or may not be correct, but i would still like you to read and go through it and correct me so that i may have more clarity in my mind.

The journey of understanding ayurveda has been fascinating and promises to continue being more and more fascinating, revealing answers about our body, about the complete cosmos and its inter-relationship. Let us continue this journey of understanding this great science.

Today, I have taken the topic of "agni". Agni, as we all know is a very unique and important concept of ayurveda on which many other concepts stand. Thus to know agni in its complete and proper sense is what my motive is for this blog and the next one. I have formed certain views regarding this but before i present my view to you i think we should start off by critically analyzing the different views that have been presented to us in this context.

Let me try and illustrate some views that have been put to us and then I shall analyze each of these views as we go along.

They are as follows:



1. Agni is equated to the enzymes and juices secreted by various organs which is responsible for the conversion of food. It includes gastric juices, pancreatic juices, bile, etc.



2. Agni is pitta itself minus the drava quality or liquidity.



3. Agni is the factor that is responsible for all conversions taking place in the body.



These are generally the 3 views that are placed in front of us. So, as I continue to explore and understand the concepts of this science, critical analysis is very important.
To analyze and put into proper perspective the 3 concepts, let us make a list of pros and cons of these concepts and see how much of it can be validated and thus how much of this can be accepted and understood.



1. For the first theory:
Pros: According to me, it is the best one i have heard, which clears to a great extent the concept of jatharagni. It is also the only concept that attempts at explaining and inter-relating this concept with modern medical science.
Cons: This concept falls a bit short as it cannot explain properly the concept of dhatvagni or that of bhootagni. If this concept is to be followed, then we cannot explain many of our own principles like that of agni reducing after vamana, virechana, etc. because it is never seen that bile or gastric or pancreatic juice secretion has been reduced.
Hence, this concept, according to me does not satisfy and do enough justice. Now let us analyze another concept



2. The analysis of the second theory is as follows:
Pros: It tries to explain it in terms of its properties and shows that a deep connection exists between agni and pitta
Cons: This does not make too much sense because if this is the case then what would happen if i drink water? Will the agni be finished and become pitta? And if a substance is totally dry, then can it actually even be secreted and how would it move. Plus if it were dry pitta, then how could agni digest pitta??
This concept is also not satisfying to the intellect. Let us try and analyze the third concept.



3. The analysis of the third concept is as follows:
Pros: It clearly shows its function and its meaning goes deeper and can be used to explain superficially concepts of dhatvagni and bhootagni.
Cons: There is a complete lack of specificity. By calling it a "factor" we are not pinpointing at anything. It is vague and unclear. It is like saying that a knife is a "factor" responsible for cutting vegetables. This can only give an indication but it does not describe the knife in any way. This is conceptually the closest one i have come across but still it is far from adequate according to me.
Thus, these were some of the theories that i have come across and am still in search of a theory that explains this concept in its totality thus giving us students a proper and complete idea of what agni really is.



I have some of my own views and ideas that i have tried to validate and they seem to fit perfectly. I will, in my next blog, present to you the complete concept of agni as i think it is and will also try and explain not only jatharagni but also dhatvagni, bhootagni and its usage in yoga, tantra, spirituality, etc. and will try and relate it with modern science in terms of quantum physics so as to validate each point as we move forward.
Please feel free to give your comments or critical analysis of these concepts. And also i would like you to present your concept so that we may discuss it and hopefully come out with a complete explanation of this unique concept.

Vedant Darshan & its Futility

Let me really simplify what I want to say for everyone to easily understand and grasp this. For this I will explain it in the form of a short story

One day a boy named Rohan, went to Gujarat to learn a rare dish. This dish was, as told by his elders and friends as the best dish to taste which will give incomparable happiness. There he met a great chef Sameerji who knew all about the dish but had never made it nor did he see the dish being made neither tasted it. But the great chef knew lots and lots about the details of the dish, about the impact the dish has on the tongue, about the impact it has on the body, how long can it be preserved and how, etc. All this he had learned from his teacher who had actually made, tasted and experienced the dish. The chef’s teacher had experienced the dish and had written all about it and this came down to sameerji who had learned it by heart. He had never seen what the dish looked like but he kept visualizing it as per the description of his teacher. The more details he knew about it, the more he thought he was closer to experiencing it when one day, he knew all he could know about the dish without experiencing it and he thought that he has complete knowledge of this dish. Thus, he started teaching others about the dish(which in reality he himself did not know about). All his arguments made sense(because they were not his). All the details seemed correct(because they were experienced). So anyone who went to him would feel as if he was experiaced in this. But did this help in his curiosity to learn this dish or did it hamper his thought process but giving him the impression of having knowledge. 

So Rohan now reached the gates of this great chef to learn this dish. He spent 25 years learning all about the dish and when he came out, he too thought that he now knew the dish completely and this was as much experience that a person can get about the dish because this was as much of an experience his teacher had got. So without having any practical knowledge of the way to make the dish, he knew everything in theory. Later on, this dish was put in front of him by a master chef in front of whom he had boasted of knowing this dish. To his surprise, inspite of knowing everything about the dish, he didn’t know about it one bit till the time he tasted it. Now, he knew why this dish was so great because it gave him incomparable happiness. He learnt an invaluable lesson, that the self experience is much greater than intellectualization of someone else’s experience. Thus, he studied under the master chef who did not teach him anything else but the taste of the dish (the thing that mattered). 

In this story we understand that experience cannot be substituted in any other way. Thus in the field of spirituality, experience is the only way.

Thus, according to me, formal education in spirituality does not make any sense. Spirituality means to know of your spirit of your inner self. But the way to know your inner self is through experience and experience alone. Thus, instead of teaching one about the answers or the experience of some higher being, the person must perform the actions so as to gain this experience himself/herself and then validate it.

Hence, today, to me, the study of Vedanta darshan seems futile and must only be done to retrofit your experience and to validate it, not reach to it!!!!

Allergy

According to the eastern knowledge system, when a fetus develops, at around the third month, it attracts a spirit of similar frequency as its own self. This spirit (atma) then enters it and the fetus begins to grow. Thus, a living child is born. The fetus till the third month is part of the mother but when the spirit enters, it starts developing an ahankara, which slowly starts differentiating it from the mother. The spirit equals the frequency of the body and hence, it becomes the body, while inherently remaining aloof. For example, we don’t have to move from our left hand to our right hand. We are both the hands together and yet we can live without the hands. Similarly, the spirit becomes the body because its ahankara relates itself to the body due to similar frequency. This ahankara differentiates between self and non-self. It constantly tells us that all that is the skin, and beneath it is the self and what is outside it is not the self.

Thus, ahankara is also the factor responsible for conversion of food (non-self) into tissues (self) using means of Agni (digestive fire). Our cells are soaked completely in ahankara and hence, physiologically, we do not suffer from autoimmune diseases as our cellular intelligence can differentiate between self and alien particles.

According to quantum physics, every particle vibrates at a certain frequency at all temperatures except 0 K or -273˚C. Thus, our body vibrates at a collective frequency and our spirit also vibrates either at that frequency or at a frequency resonating it. Till this frequency is maintained by our body, the spirit can stay in it. At the time of death, when the spirit starts leaving the body, the body undergoes rigor mortis, fast eye movements, etc which is the final attempt to match the frequency of the spirit, and when that fails, the spirit leaves the body resulting in death.

Food or material (non-self) that comes in contact with our body by any means, tries to blend in with our body’s vibrations. If this fails, it leads to diseases as mentioned by acharyas of ayurveda as “Asatmya Indriya Samyoga.” This principle follows the rule of entrainment. For example, when a hot substance is kept in a cold environment, there is an exchange of heat that takes place so as to make the substance blend in with the surroundings. Similarly when the material comes in contact with the body, the material tries to take up the frequency of the body and vice versa. But when such a substance’s frequency is totally not matched with that of the body, the body fails to treat it as a part of the self and hence reacts with the same. Thus, resulting in an allergic reaction.

Prana, or the life force, though spread across the body, particularly resides in specific areas known to us as marmas which are 107 in number. These are the centers of life forces, when these centers are disturbed by unmatching frequency, the prana starts leaving that part of the body resulting in damage proportional to the importance of the marma. For example, if the hrudaya (heart marma) gets affected, it will result in instant death (sadhyapranahara) but if it affects the extremities then it won’t be that severe (kalantarpranahara etc).

The exact reason for different people being prone to different allergens is because different people have different frequencies. Some ayurvedic practitioners believe that it has something to do with Prakriti or inherent nature of the person, but on careful examination, we come to know that the prakruti itself is determined by the frequency of shukra (sperm), artava (ovum) and their blending mechanism. So, even though it is related with prakruti, but that is still not the deepest and complete understanding of allergy. There is a deeper version which i am trying to present here.

Let me try and explain it more technically. There are 2 types of treatments we come across during practice.

1. Temporary (priority) treatment and

2. Permanent (primary) treatment.

Temporary treatment is insufficient and should only be used during emergency conditions, only to palliate the disease and relieve patient from symptoms. Temporary treatment includes all treatments that treat the sthaani (pathogens) and not the sthaan (site of pathogenesis). It gives immediate results but not lasting ones. For example if an antigen is settled at a weak organ in the body, then, to kill or stop that antigen from growing (antibiotics) or to weaken its effects or the sensitivity or its effects (pain killers) is temporary but priority treatment in emergency conditions giving immediate results but permanent and primary treatment includes strengthening the organ to an extent wherein if even the pathogens do attack it, it should be able to sustain it. This function is carried out by the body’s immunity and immunity is developed and dependant on ojas. Ojas is the best part (proper frequency) of the tissues and hence, allergens will first disturb ojas. Due to imbalanced ojas (which is responsible for immune response) hypersensitivity occurs. As we all know Ojas is responsible for maintaining life and if ojas (proper frequency of tissues) is not maintained, life will not be sustained, which is exactly what happens at the time of poisoning (as we all know, the properties of poison are totally opposite to that of ojas). Hence if ojas is disturbed to a great extent, it might result in death.

Here, we must also understand that allergy and poisoning are not too different from one another. The only difference is that poison is totally opposite to ojas and hence it reduces ojas, whereas allergens only disturb the balance of ojas

Digestion according to Ayurveda

First of all, I would like to welcome & thank each and every one of you who spent their valuable time reading my first blog.

The response to my first blog was a bit overwhelming which, to be honest, put me in a sort of a fix. It gave me confidence to write further, but it also gave me a bit of nervousness. I knew that the bar of expectation is raised. This nervousness wasn't allowing me to continue writing as i was afraid i might not reach upto it. It took some time, but now i think the time has come for me to progress.

As i had mentioned earlier, the focus point on this blog should be answering the question 'how do u improve all 3 levels of immunity?' But for that 1 more concept must be understood so that we can progress further without any doubts what-so-ever.

The process of digestion is what we all necessarily must know if we are to treat ourselves. Let me describe to you its importance very briefly. The scriptures state "You are what you eat". Allow me to explain it concisely. When you were born, your body was relatively small. Now when your completely grown up, your body is about n number of times larger. So what is it that made your body this large? Nothing else than what you have taken in. Everything in your body, including your brain is made from the food you eat. Hence, the saying goes, 'you are what you eat'.

So the point i am trying to make is that, to treat oneself or to better one's functioning, one must give utmost importance to the food intake. Hence, digestion must be known before we proceed.

Digestion: According to ayurvedic science, digestion occurs in 3 stages.

1) The first stage is the gross digestion. Here the Jatharagni, or the digestive fire acts on the food(non-self). This occurs in three stages
a) Madhur avasthapaka: This stage starts as soon as the food enters our mouth and mixes with saliva and ends when the food leaves the stomach to enter the small intestine. Here, according to ayurveda, the earth and water elements are digested(released). These two elements together give a sweet taste, hence the name 'madhura'. Relating it with modern science, we can say that mainly carbohydrates are digested here.
b) Amla avastapaka: This stage starts when the food enters the small intestine and ends with the food entering the large intestine. Here, acc to ayurveda, the fire element is released with some of the remaining part of the earth element. The fire element with the earth element gives a sour taste, hence the name 'amla'. Relating it with modern science, vitamins, protiens, fats, etc gets digested here.
c) Katu avasthapaka: This stage starts when the food enters the large intestine and ends when the food is converted into faeces. Here, acc to ayurveda, the air and ether elements get released. Thus due to the action of air and ether, seperation of the useful(sara) and wasteful(kitta) part takes place here.
The result of gross digestion is the formation of 'Ahara rasa' or the substances absorbed by the body.

2) The second stage of digestion is the subtle digestion.
The absorbed substances of the body form various tissues of the body but they follow a specific chronological order due to the treatment of various specific agnis known as dhatvagnis. The order goes as follows. On the first day the ahara rasa will form the lymph and plasma. On the fifth day it will form RBCs, WBCs and thrombocytes. On the 10th day it will form muscle tissue. The 15th day will see it forming fatty cells(lipids). On the 20th day, it will form the bone cells. Bone marrow and nervous tissue will be formed on the 25th day, and on the 30th day, it will form and be a part of the reproductive cells. After this on the 35th day, if the reproductive cells are not used up, it will give away tremendous amount of energy, known as Ojas. This is the vital energy that nourishes and strengthens your subtle body and your aura. Without energy, there would be no life.

3) The third stage of digestion is the subtlest stage.
Here the inactive or dormant part of the 5 elements which were released are treated to 5 subtle agnis known as bhutagnis. These agnis convert it into specific subtle energies which stimulate numerous brain cortices, hence improving our buddhi, or intelligence. It also increases our sensitivity of all the 5 senses. Have you ever wondered that when you stay hungry for long, your mind, senses, along with your body, gradually stops functioning. It is because our food nourishes the mind directly as well as indirectly. Great saints try and increase the third stage of digestion so that they can stimulate their brain cortices and increase this sensitivity(sattva) so that they can be more receptive to heigher energies.

In this particular blog, I have tried to to make minimum use sanskrit or classical terms so as to make this understanding easy. I might have made some mistakes in my translation of these terms to the modern day languge or in my understanding of these terms. In either case, i hope im corrected. This is a vast and deep subject, i have just tried to touch on its main points and have left the deatils out so as to not make it too heavy to digest(finger pain could have also been the reason). If anyone requires a detailed explanation for anything, i would be very happy to answer. Please feel free to express yourself.

Thanking you,
Manaan Gandhi

Immunity according to Ayurveda

First of all, as this is my first attempt to write anything, i would request you to bear with my mistakes and/or juvinile thoughts and help me out if i am mistaken in any way.

I would like to introduce myself. I am Manaan Gandhi, a BAMS student studying ayurveda in DY Patil college, nerul.

Being just a first year student, frankly i do not know much about the details of this science but have tried to understand some concepts which, to me, seemed important and without which the base of ayurveda would seems incomplete. I am presenting my understanding here and will wait and see if i get thumbs up for this or if im corrected. In either case, i will be benefited.

To understand ayurvedic concepts, we must know some basics about the philosophies is revolves around

Ayurveda says that all beings have 3 bodies.

a) The gross body, or the one we see in front of us.

b) The subtle body, or the one in which there is a flow of energy and chakras (this body can be related to the mind). This body includes our aura. It stores the exact detail and pattern of our body structure and function. For eg. We know that everyday a new layer of skin appears on our face. Then why do some marks remain for a lifetime? Why does our skin colour not change drastically? It is because gross impressions are stored in this body and due to this, the new skin will also carry these impressions along with it. The same goes with other parts of this body. Thus this body contains the blueprint of our gross body. This print takes 6 months max to come into action. Hence the saints try and alter this blueprint via various methods of yoga,etc so as to gain a purer body. If this can be tapped into, we can change our appearance at will like yogis used to do in the bygone days. A healthy new human could be ready in a year's time.

c) The causal body, or the ones which stores all our subtle impressions(samskars) including our karmas. This body does not get destroyed at the time of death and hence karmas are carried forward from one birth to the other resulting in what we call destiny or fate.

The understanding of things like immunity, digestion, etc according to ayurveda (or my understanding of it) are very different from the ones we have heard from the modern aspect...

Lets start with Immunity

Immunity: According to ayurved(my understanding) we have 3 lines of defence. These systems protect our body from various diseases by preventing disease causing agents to enter our body.

The first line of defence is our aura, or the energy system of our body. The karmas or the deeds done previously are stored in the causal body in the form of subtle charges and are released out at specific times with respect to the surrounding environment, planetary positions etc. These charges enter the subtle body which forms the aura. Thus when our energy is low, we are prone to diseases i.e. the first line of defence has been broken.

The next line of defence is divided into 2, internal and external

The external line of defence is formed by the skin. As we all know, the skin acts as a divider between the self and non-self externally. It is difficult for microbes to pierce this line of defence. Hence making it the strongest line of defence

The internal line of defence is formed by our GI tract. We take in food (non-self) and we convert in into our body tissues(self) by the action of ahamkara(power of self-identification) on this food. Internally the GI tract acts as a divider between the self and non-self. Do you self identify with your faeces? No. Only the absorbed part of food will be a part of you because, by the process of absorption, ahamkara acts on the food and it becomes a part of the self. This is known as selective absorption in modern science. Although passive absorption may also be included. Therefore any anomaly in the GI tract anatomically of physiologically may give rise to many problems.

The third line of defence comprises of the WBCs, antibodies, etc. which do not allow the disease to manifest itself

Thus, only when all the three defences are broken can a disease enter our system and affect us.

The question that arises here is that, how do we strengthen all these three lines of defence in order to protect our body and remain healthy for a longer period of time?

The answer to these questions will lie in my next blog.

Please feel free to comment, praise, criticize or give your point of view in this subject. And as i have mentioned before, this is my understanding of the subject and im more than happy to learn new theories and concepts or correct myself as im just a young student.

Thanking you,

Manaan Gandhi.