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