Ayurveda Series Part 2

Continuing from part 1- https://os.me/short-stories/ayurveda-series/

What is health according to Ayurveda?

 There is a shloka on this that says,

“Samadosha samagnishcha samadhathu malakriyah,

Prasannatmendriya manah swastya ityabidyate.”

Meaning-

Samadosha- When all the doshas are in equilibrium, which means when they are all functioning normally.

Samagnishcha- When the agni is in its state of equilibrium

Samadhatu- When all the dhatus(there are sapthadhatus, I’ll explain it below) are functioning well

Malakriya- When timely elimination happens in the body, throwing all the toxins out.

Prasanatmendriya manah- When your atma(soul), Indriya( all the organs), Manah( mind) is happy(prasanna)

Swastya ityabidyate- That is called swastya or health

If you take a closer look at this, you would know this is exactly what even the WHO states it as definition for health.

Here it goes- “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” – WHO Constitution.

Lets now see what is the dosha siddhantha of Ayurveda

What constitutes Manasika(mind) and shaaririka(bodily) elements as per Ayurveda- It is Satva, Rajas and Tamas for the mind and Vata, Pitta and Kapha for the body.

Ayurveda states everything is paanchaboutika{ 5 life elements- Prithvi(earth), Jala(water), Teja(Agni/fire), Vayu( Air), Akash(Ether/space)}, so are we. So all the elements in our body has that paanchaboutikatva, with its predominancy being expressed.

I shall elaborate on the doshas, dhatus and malas one after the other to avoid confusion if I happen to mention all of it here at once, you might end up scratching your head!!. hahaha.. Lets take one at a time. For today its introduction to doshas, in brief( will get in to details of it in each of the posts)

VATA( Air element)- HE IS THE MASTER MIND. He has an element of Satva and Rajas, but predominantly being Rajas. It is activating and dynamic.

He constitutes of Space and Air. Why Vata has such a significance? Well, if you keep him happy he will keep you happy..hahaha:) That is because he governs all the other elements in the body. 

Ayurveda states his importance in the following Shloka-

” Pittam pangu, kapham pangu, pangavo mala dhatavaha,

Vayunam yatra niyanti, tatra ghachathi meghavat”

Meaning- Pitta is pangu(paralysed), kapha is also pangu and so are malas( excretory products) and dhatus( bodily tissues)

Vayunam yatra niyanti- wherever the wind blows

Tatra ghacchati meghavat- In the similar direction the clouds move. 

So vata is the one who carries all of them, or in other words- he facilitates their movements, since they cannot move on their own. There is alot to talk of Vata, but for today I guess this is enough:)

Do I end here for today??;) I shall talk of each of these doshas, their characteristics, their functions etc in the subsequent posts..

Thanks for waiting patiently:) Am sorry to have not responded for your comments in my previous posts, I shall do it shortly:)