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Showing posts from January, 2012

Ageing and Concept of Agni

"In Ayurveda a concept of agni (fire) has been given. Agni here refers not just to the digestive fire, but various kinds of agnis corresponding to myriad life processes. In fact, it is the agni which is the sub-stratum of a cell, not the nucleus. It is the play of agni that leads to symptoms of ageing in the body, that is, dulling of the senses - vision deteriorates, hearing ability decreases, sense of touch becomes weak, etc. What do these agnis do? When you inhale there is an exchange of gases in the lungs, energy is produced at the cellular level and in turn, toxins are also produced. These toxins are called as  ama  in  Ayurveda . Because of their production, cell exhibits symptoms of weakening. Cells die and are reborn, each subsequent cell being weaker than the previous one. There is a limit to how many times a cell can multiply; this has been recognized as the Hayflick Limit in western science. In 1912, an experiment was conducted by Alexis Carrel where chicken cells we

Breathing Power

A simple test to know the current state of your health is to count your breaths per minute. If you breathe 8 to 10 times in a minute then you are on the right track. At 12-15 breaths per minute, you need to start yoga and if you’re breathing more than 15 times, then immediate corrective measures are required. To begin with avoid hyperactivity as it depletes energy. There are techniques in yoga that can regulate your breath-flow. They can keep you charged-up and disease-free all the time. Sanatan Kriya is one simple way of controlling the flow of your breath. Here are 3 techniques to synchronise your breath with the body’s biorhythms. 1. Bhramari Pranayama: Try to sit in vajrasana or any other comfortable position; make sure that your back is upright. Plug your ear with your thumb and place your fingertips on your head region. Inhale and very slowly exhale while making a deep and steady humming sound (like the humming bee). 2. Nadi Shodhanam: Sit in vajrasana or any other comfor

Is euthanasia ethical?

Death – the five letters are considered the end of birth and also the end of existence. A person who does not want to live as he or she is unable to go through the experiences of life and is dependent on artificial aids to breathe and be nourished is not allowed to die. The modern-day society considers it unethical. Man has completely forgotten the Gita and Vedas, which clearly say that this body is for experiences and once it is unable to give you that, then it's time to leave it and go into another. The soul chooses the body and the experiences it desires. It's the free will of the soul which should be respected. As per Ayurveda, if a disease exhibits certain symptoms, then the vaidya would not treat it, as it means that the time for the person to leave the body has come and no medicine would be effective. The patient is allowed to go into a fresh new body. The Vedic seers believed that the time and place of death is fixed and cannot be changed, unless the guru desires. The p

Health is Wealth

The often-quoted phrase has acquired a new dimension in today’s materialistic world. In today’s context health does really imply wealth, though not really in quite the manner it was meant to in earlier times. In the current environment Health is Wealth because it provides the most fruitful business opportunities. Fitness having become a fad, all health related goods and services yield profits. Health is the positioning for communication for not just a brand of cooking oil, but also for a refrigerator, colour TV, trousers and many more products. The race is on to acquire healthy bodies, healthy skins within the framework of unhealthy lifestyles. Health boutiques offering quick fix solutions to health related problems have burgeoned. Now besides physical health and emotional health, even spiritual health can be acquired for a price. The proliferation of organisations marketing slickly packaged programmes offering spiritual gains is testimony to how misconstrued the concept is. Health

Science Of Mantra

A mantra is a coded form of energy in the form of sound (dhwani).  Every mantra comprises of  shakti ,  beej  and  keel  - the combination of three containing in themselves the total effect of a mantra. While  shakti  refers to the driving force in a mantra (responsible for sanchalan of the mantra), the  beej  is its potential (just like a seed is a potential tree) and the  keel  is what binds the mantra to the purpose for which it is intended. (sound waves traverse large distances in a matter of seconds, the  keel  ensures the energy unleashed stays where it has to and does not dissipate) Uchharan is of utmost importance in a mantra. A mantra is a codified form of energy, an invocation of the subtler energies. The science of mantras calls for great degree of precision and accuracy. A mantra should only be chanted by one who has the right uchharan – the right words, the right pronunciation and the right modulations. Incorrect and faulty uchharan can do more harm

Fibre of life

The clothes we wear are the closest to our physical at all time. By virtue of this, we are constantly affected by the nature of our clothes and their colour. That’s why it is advisable to wear clothes made of natural fibre. Wearing synthetic clothes will transfer on to you the artificial nature of the fabric, making you artificial and taking you away from the real world of nature. The same goes for ladies who wear bindis. Since it affects the Ajna Chakra directly, it is strongly recommended that the bindi be made of natural substances. Unfortunately, nowadays designer bindis are more prevalent than the natural ones. What these ladies are imbibing through their Ajna is only plasticity and artificiality. Within the physical, the natural colour of substances indicates its nature and effect. When you go to a party, you wear bright flashy clothes, but when you go for a prayer meeting, the preference is for subdued pastel shades. Is this an effect of social conditioning or has social condi

Your desires don’t satiate you, your desires consume you!

"The more desires a person has, the more the thoughts come to him/her to fulfil those desires and thus the person keeps planning and scheming. Thought is also a source of prana  because when the thought comes only then you act. Can you do anything without the thought of it coming first? First thought of aeroplane came and then aeroplane was manufactured. Similarly first thought of the atom bomb came and only then it was invented. Every single thing is preceded by its thought. How would you have made these without the thought of making them? And these thoughts go right up to the cellular level and thus desires get embedded in each and every cell of your body.There is a very interesting study on this,ie, Consciousness at the level of the cell. A person named William Sheridan went for a heart transplant and after the operation suddenly he started painting and sketching landscapes and wildlife. He was himself surprised to see this...So later research was done and it was found

Gyan Vs Knowledge

"There is a huge difference between knowledge and gyan . Let me give an example. When I was appearing for my class 10 exams, I found that as it is I am bad in maths apart from that I was weak in Geography as well and in our school whoever used to fail in two subjects used to fail in that class. So I still remember that I memorised the whole book, chapter-wise and in the exam for each question I wrote the entire chapter. So ultimately the examiner must have thought that I have written so much (even though irrelevant) that he gave me passing marks- exactly 33 %. So, you may know entire chapters on Yoga but the  gyan  will still not be there. When you do yog or  dhyan ,  gyan  comes to you constantly. As you progress  Gyan  comes to you step by step. When you receive  gyan  you take one step, then you receive more gyan and move to the next step and so on and so forth. This progress is not dependent on time. Gyan will come to you only when you are connected to your Guru; without thi

"Spirituality" ???

In our times "spirituality" has become a fad. This aint surprising one bit simply because such is the pace of life that one doesn't even finds the time to "live life". Infact, life for most has reduced to weekends.  So in such a scenario a new business opportunity has presented itself and that is the " inner peace" business which involves various spiritual upliftment courses that bring your mind and body to perfect health and lots of other "benefits" (essentially a one stop solution to every problem that you have) And because there is demand for such "products" so the supply too is available in abundance. Spirituality has always been the mainstay of our country. So many great beings (Kabir, Sri Raman Maharishi, Sri Ramakrishna... the list is endless!) have shown us what spirituality actually means, but did any of them put a fee to their teachings or did any of them ever had courses-beginners, advanced...?!!! Its time we put to ou

Destiny

"Destiny which is called as prarabdh in vedic terminology is indeed a fact. Everyone has to go through the effect of what is prarabdh. It is only Shiv or your Guru who have the capacity to alter what is prarabdh , but then that is done only for a higher cause. By doing yog under the sanidhya of your Guru, whatever has to happen will still happen, but you will not feel its effect. Therefore that karma becomes redundant for you. Thus role of a Yog Guru is to gradually open all these karma bandhans. The purpose of life is simply to experience what you have desired. This desire could be anything- desire to have a particular sweet or the sexual desire or desire to paint depending on the individual. So there is nothing wrong in experiencing whatever you desire, after all that’s what you are here for. But the problem comes when you get stuck in one desire and that becomes a pitfall.Don’t forget that apart from the 5 senses there are subtler senses and higher worlds that can be accesse