AYURVEDA

 

 

 Bhaktivedanta Gurukula Village

Sridham Mayapur

 

 

 

 

 

LESSON 1     October 1990 |

 

 

 

 

nama om visnu padaya krsna presthaya   bhutale

srimate bhaktivedanta swamin iti namine

namaste sarasvate devam gauravani pracarine

nirvisesa sunyavadi pascatya desa tarine

 

SB 2/7/22

 

dhanvantaris ca bhagavan svayam eva kirtir

namna nrnam pururujam ruja asu hanti

 yajne ca bhagam amrtayur avavarundha     

 ayusya vedam anusasty avatirya loke

 

 

The Lord in His incarnation of Dhanvantari very quickly             cures the  diseases of the ever diseased living entities simply by His fame personified and only because of Him do the demigods achieve long lives. Thus the Personality of Godhead becomes ever glorified. He also exacted a share from the sacrifices, and it is He only who inaugurated the medical science or the knowledge of medicine in the universe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PURPORT

 

                As stated in the beginning of Srimad Bhagavatam, everything emanates from the ultimate source of the Personality of Godhead;

it is therefore understood in this verse that medical science or knowledge in medicine was also inaugurated  by the Personality of

 

 

 

 

 

 

Godhead in His incarnation Dhanvantari, and thus the knowledge is recorded in the Vedas.

 

                The Vedas are the source of knowledge, and thus knowledge in medical science is also there for the perfect cure of the diseases of the living entity. The embodied living entity is diseased by the very construction of his body.                                                                  

 The  body is a symbol of diseases. The disease may differ from one variety to another, but disease must be there just as there is birth and death for everyone. So by the grace of the Personality of Godhead

 

, not only are diseases of the body and mind cured, but also the soul is relieved of the constant repetition of birth and death. The name of the Lord is also called bhavausadhi, or the source of curing the disease of material existence.

 

 

 

COSMIC & UNIT PHYSIOLOGY

 

 

 

A) Panca bhutas (Five Great elements)

 

                From all the authoritative statements of the great sages, the Vedic hymns and the aphorisms of the Vedanta sutra, the components of this world can be understood as follows: First there are EARTH, WATER, FIRE, AIR AND ETHER. These are the five great elements (maha  bhuta)

 

                The colour of these five elements are :

                                                                                earth       -               golden

                                                                                water      -               crystal   

                                                                                fire                          red

                                                                                air                            - blue                                     

                                                                                ether       -               smoke

 

                The gross body of the living being is made of these five elements, as follows:

 

  Thin layer on the skin, tvak   skin-carma, flesh-mamsa,   blood-rudhira, fat-medah,  majja-marrow,bone-asthi     from earth, water & fire    The living force -prana                from sky, water & air          

 

 

B) Suksma bhutas (subtle elements)

 

                The subtle body of the living being consists of MIND, INTELLIGENCE and

(False) EGO.                           

                                  

                The eight elements earth, water, fire sky, mind intelligence and false ego are all products of the Lord's inferior energy, whereas the living entities, who are seen to utilise the inferior energy, originally belong to the superior energy, the internal potency of the Lord. The eight inferior energies work grossly and subtly, whereas the superior energy works as the central generating force. This is experienced in the human body. The gross elements, namely earth etc., form the external gross body and are like a coat, whereas the subtle mind and false ego act like the under clothing of the body.

                                  

                                 

C) The creative energies

 

                Before the creation or manifestation of the material cosmic world, the Lord exists as total energy (maha-samasti), and thus desiring Himself to be diffused to many, He expands Himself further into multitotal energy (samasti). From the multitotal energy He further expands Himself into individuals in three dimensions, namely adhyatmic, adhidaivic and ahibhautic (vyasti)

 

                As such, the whole creation and the creative energies are non-different and different simultaneously. Because everything is an emanation from Him (the Maha Visnu or Maha samasti), none of the cosmic energies are different from Him. But all such expanded energies display specific functions as designed by the Lord, and therefore they are simultaneously different from the Lord. The living entities are also a similar energy  (marginal potency) of the Lord, and thus they are simultaneously one with               and different from Him.

 

 

 

D) The process of creation

 

                                a  part of material nature, after being initiated by the Lordis known as mahat tattva  a fractional portion of the mahat tattva is called the false ego  a portion of the ego is the vibration of sound         a portion of sound is atmospheric air a portion of the airy atmosphere is turned into forms  the forms constitute the power of electricity or heat   heat produces the smell of the aroma of the earth                   gross earth is produced by this aroma            all these combined together constitute the cosmic phenomenon

 

 

 

E) The modes of material nature

 

 

                Mahat tattva or the great causal truth, transforms into false ego, which is manifested in three phases, cause, effect and the doer. All such activities are on the mental plane and are based on the material elements, gross senses and mental speculation. The false ego is represented in three modes - goodness, passion and ignorance.

 

                Every living being is under the plan of his natural inclinations in terms of the modes of material nature. His work is manifested in terms of the nature of the three modes, his form and bodily features are designed according to his work, and his name is designated according to his bodily features.

               

 

F) Creation from the modes

 

                From the mode of goodness:      the mind  Also the ten demigods controlling the bodily movements    From the mode passion:     ear, skin, nose, eyes, tongue, mouth, hands, genitals, legs and   the outlet for evacuating     intelligence and living energy                  From the mode of ignorance:      the darkness of false ego       sky   sound

         

 

      sound      rom sky       -  air    touch    sense perception    mental power      bodily strength     rom air         fire -            sound, touch    hape                      from firwater -      sound, touch, shape & taste  from waterearth-               sound, touch, shape taste,& smell

 

G) The body and the modes

 

 

                The sense organs are attached to the modes of material nature, and the modes of material nature are products of the false ego. The mind is subjected to all kinds of material experiences (happiness and distress), and the intelligence is the feature of the mind's deliberation.

 

 

H) Bodily organs, their source, function and controlling deities:

 

                The order in which the bodily organs were generated is as follows:

 

 

 

                Prana agitated by virat-purusa          -               mouth

 

                From mouth           -               palate, tongue       -               tastes     -                               Varuna

 

                From mouth           -               speech   -               Agni                                                      

 

                Desire to smell-     nostrils   -               respiration   

                Desire to see         -               eyes-visioon-        Sun        

 

                Rsis' desire to       know Supreme      -ears       hearing   -vayu

 

Desire to           skin, pores                        mahiruha

                perceive                 - hair on body       -touch    -    (trees)

 

                Desire to work      -               hands     work       Indra

 

                Desire to move     -               legs         walk        Visnu

 

Desire for sex        -               genitals                  -sex pleasure tasting the     heavenly nectar    begetting off springPrajapati

 

                Desire to evacuate-              anus       evacuating-           Mitra

 

                Desire to move     -               navel & air             -transmigrating- Yama        

 

                Desire to eat          -               abdomen, intestines       rivers

                 & drink                                  & arteries               -eating & drinking-& seas

 

                Desire to know-    heart,mind             -               thinking determination &

 

I) Consciousness

 

                Consciousness is the sign of the living entity, or the soul. The existence of the soul is manifest in the form of consciousness, called jnana sakti. Total consciousness is that of the gigantic virat rupa, and the same consciousness is exhibited in individual persons.

 

 

J) Self-identification

This consciousness is divided into three modes of self identification according to the proportion of purity: adhyatmika or self identification with the body and mind, adhibhautika or self identification with the material products, and adhidaivika self identification is the beginning of purity of consciousness in pursuance of the desire of the Lord.

 

 

K) Life air

 

                The activity of consciousness is performed through the air of life, which is of ten divisions. The airs of life are called prana, apana, udana, vyana and samana and are also differently qualified as naga, kurma, krkara, devadatta and dhananjaya.                                                  

 

  prana     the main air passing through the nose     in breathing  apana     the air which passes through the rectum as the evacuated bodily air 

samanathe air which adjusts the foodstuff within the       stomach and which sometimes sounds as belching

 udana the air which passes through the throat and the stoppage of which constitutes suffocation

  vyana the total air which circulates throughout the       entire body

 

 

 There are other airs even more subtle than these five:

 

  naga   - that which facilitates the opening of the eyes, mouth, etc.,

 

  krkara    the air which increases appetite

 

  kurma    the air which helps contraction

 

 

  devadatta    the air which helps relaxation by opening the       mouth wide (in yawning)

 

 

  dhananjaya   the air which helps sustenance

 

 

L) The six cakras

 

 

                There are six circles of the movement of the air:

 

 muladhara cakra  -                               pelvis

 

  svadhistana cakra              -               genital area

 

  manipuraka cakra               -               below the abdomen and navel

 

  anahata cakra                      -               heart

 

  visuddhi cakra                    -               root of the palate

 

 ajna cakra                             -               between the eyebrows

 

 

M) The duration of life

 

                The process of the exhaustion of the duration of life exists for everyone of the living beings, including Lord Brahma. One's life endures for only one hundred years, in terms of the times in the different planets.