Yoga is not Ayurveda and vice versa but the two sister sciences are indissociable. Both are of Vedic heritage and cannot be de-indianised. They may adapt and change in the export process that we call evolutionary.
While yoga is the science of self-realization, Ayurveda is the science of self-healing. Yoga – in its original and strict definition – is geared to moksha (self-realization) and is the province of yogis. Ayurveda encompasses all goals of life – kama, artha, dharma and moksha – and is a science of life for boghis (ordinary people) who are engaged in maya, the world of illusion. Bhogis get married, have sex and reproduced, etc.
Prabhupada, founder of Hare Krishna movement, wrote that sexual attraction is the strongest link to maya. Real yogis take sannyas, withdraw from the senses, live in kutir and meditate or engage in a life of total service to humanity. Householders have to take care of their progeny.
Excesses of maya may lead to diseases and this is when yoga is called to the rescue. According to Ayurveda, health is when there is harmony in body, mind and spirit. Yoga suggests techniques and methods to bring equilibrium while Ayurveda supplies treatments and teachings about remedies and lifestyles. Yoga takes care of the essence of the human being while Ayurveda is concerned about the existence of the individual.
Sometimes newcomers to Ayurveda and yoga would like to take away their Vedic roots, de-iindianized them and make them material sciences. Sooner than later, they familiarize with deities and rituals which at first seem so foreign.
Goddess Durga
Multi-faceted Lakshmi is shown very appealing, friendly and inviting with her nice garments and rich jewelry, distributing gold coins. Durga, on the contrary, whose name means “the inaccessible”, appears as a very complex character to say the least. Durga is also Devi, the Divine Mother, known under so many other names: Bhavani, Amba, Chandika, Gauri, Parvati, etc. and her other manifestations. Perhaps Lakshmi and Durga are two different faces of the same coin as it is often the case – as it in the case in Hinduism – where deities are intertwined in a garland of divine attributes.
Without a consort of her own, Durga is usually depicted riding a lion or a tiger, and carrying weapons in her many arms, She is the personification of female energy, the shakti power of Lord Siva. Destroyer of evil, protector of the right, Durga annihilates negativy, fights ego (all our demons).
Without the immediate appeal of Lakshmi, Durga takes time to be discovered and understood. In July 1998, I had seen a show about Durga at Lincoln Art Center in New York City. I regret to say that the meaning of the play eluded me almost completely. Second take, I had another encounter with Durga during Navaratri 2002. I was then a guest at Sivananda Ashram in Val-Morin, Quebec. The 3 first days of Navaratri are dedicated to Durga. I was more interested in the energy of Lakshmi which follows in the celebrations. So I was waiting eagerly for days 4, 5 and 6 to get my full share of blessings. I was not fully aware of the negativity within me, or even the real meaning of negativity. It took me quite a while to realize that Durga leads to Lakshmi.
Two years later, during a trip to India, I was blessed to meet Dr. Harish Verma, the author of Secrets of Ayurveda, and to be formally introduced to Durga. It was during Navaratri where Durga is there revered under her 8 manifestations. The last day is a celebration of victory of good under evil. Durga Puja is observed by businessmen in the capital of India which makes great sense. In order to succeed in life, whatever your pursuit is, you need Durga’s input. Success requires discipline and righteousness. And since we all want to succeed in life, we all need to be with Durga.
I had then the revelation of Durga which has since became a familiar presence at my upasanas. When I feel disturbing thoughts of envy, anger, jealousy, hatred, I do retire in the company of Durga. She has been a great source of appeasement.
In my ignorance, I use to express frequently likes and dislikes, sarcasms, etc. Dr. Verma pointed out to me those attitudes do not please Durga who is of great help in fighting ego in its various manifestations. It took me a while to understand the wisdom of Durga. Thanks Dr. Verma!
Lakshmi is for all due reasons one of the most attractive deities, if not the most, of the Hindu Pantheon. She is the embodiment of beauty, wealth and good fortune. Every living person on earth would want to be in Her good grace - if they only knew about Her. She is the consort of Vishnu the Preserver and she has understably access to all the “goodies”. She had many reincarnations, namely as Sita and Radha, as she accompanied the many reincarnations of Vishnu. Under her 8 forms, she presides over 8 kinds of wealth. So you can rely on Her for all your wants and needs.
Lakshmi is depicted as a beautiful young lady wearing nice garments and rich jevels. She is associated with the lotus, symbol of spiritual awakening, which – rooted in the mud - blossoms over the water every morning at sunrise. Its wax coating acts a shield against impurities. Lakshmi’s four arms represent the four goals of life: kama (sensual enjoyment), artha (wealth), dharma (righteousness) and moksha (salvation).
Lakshmi is the center of Diwali celebrations. Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is the Hindu New Year and it coincides with the New Moon of the month of … at no fixed date in October or November. Hindus decorate their homes with small oil lamps (deyas) with the hope that Lakshmi will visit them and bestow them Her many blessings. Lakshmi provide a wide range of material and mostly spiritual favors. Peace and prosperity are granted to the worshipper. Lakshmi resides only in tidy dwellings and prefers the company of hard-working people. She is believed not too remain very long with people only interested in material gains.
Lakshmi is a tremendous force appearing under many forms. She is also Devi, the Divine Mother, the Shakti, power, the feminine energy within us and present in the Universe, also called kundalini. She is also the embodiment of love (bhakti) that flows from the heart and enables the soul (atma) to reach the Infinite.
More important than understanding Lakshmi is to be with her and feel Her energies within us.
Lord Ganesh
Ganesh, the elephant-headed god, son of Siva and Parvati, is one of the most invoked god of the Hindu Pantheon. There are as many legends about him advent on earth as popular imagination can fancy and as many representations as artistic creativity can elaborate.
Ganesh is revered and loved because he is the Lord of Commencement and the Remover of Obstacles. Ganesh, in fact, represents all the tools of the soul (virtues) necessary to success. It is how man represents divine qualities present in us and perhaps dormant. It is to enliven these qualities that we pray to him at the onset of every undertaking be hit studies, marriage, business, etc.
Every sunrise is a step in the history of mankind, every morning is a new endeavour when one emerges from the veils of sleep ready to face the day, every step is the beginning of a journey and every thought is a commencement,
Ganesh is patience, courage, determination, humility, tenacity, gratitude, love, compassion and brings great solace at all moments. It is probably the first deity that one meets at a first contact with India. It is comforting to travel through life with Ganesh.
Ganesh may not appear very handsome at first but getting to know him, one finds him immensely attractive. And how he appears, it is how man can perceive the qualities that are so necessary for spiritual progress as well as material.
While scholars debate the finer points of Hindu theology, ordinary people call on deities like Ganesh to help them with the daily challenges of their livelihood. Next we will meet Laxmi or Lakshmi who is so often pictured with Ganesh.
Wall Painting – Montreal Krishna Temple
From time immemorial, India has been a supplier of riches to the world and the pearl of these riches is wisdom. The West came in contact with yoga a long time ago. Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle were largely inspired by Indian philosophy. Even Cicero in his Tusculanum’s writings about happiness mentioned those strange healing practices observed in people that he called barbarians.
India has always exerted a strange fascination and been trendy so to speak as well as a source of inspiration to mankind at different ages. Looking for a new spice road, Columbus landed in America. Modern came to America about 500 years later when Swami Vivekananda addressed the Parliament of Religions meeting in Chicago in 1893. In the last century, yoga masters began to travel to the West attracting attention and followers. Each guru, swami or acharya brought with him chunks of Vedic wisdom. Many of them built strong organisations who are blooming today.
The West is rajasic in essence, likes action. There are many forms of yoga. Outside of Hindu culture, in the West, hatha yoga is the most popular form of yoga. Hatha yoga is, however, a particular system propagated by Swami Swatamarama, a yogic sage of the 15th century in India who penned Yoga Pradipika. .
While in India, yoga is a spiritual practice akin to religion, most Westerners have taken a more secular approach, as an overall fitness progoram.. Yoga is gradually perceived as an holistic well-being regimen. Urban yoga focuses on the asanas (body postures), pranayama (breath control)) and lately meditation which is taught for its therapeutic properties.
Some may disagree about this turn of events and see yoga disfigured when divorces from its spiritual goal. Slowly and gradually, yoga is getting acceptance in matters related to health,, happiness and spirituality. Yoga has rightfully become fashionable indeed. Many people are healthier and happier through their yoga practice and experience some form of spiritual awakening. It is a way of life for many and it leads to Ayurveda and conscious living.
In the export process yoga may have somewhat deviated from the original model. So what. Everything in this Universe is in perpetual movement and it is called evolution …
My altar
In India, where there is a long Vedic tradition, home altars are found in every home and there is a multitude of puja items, that appear very mysterious and strange to us foreigners. We have on hand a few familiar items like incense, candles, flowers. We may happen to use them in a very unorthodox manner. It is the intention that counts, as they say. The Infinite - who reads thoughts – knows the purity of everyone’s heart. It is therefore possible to improvise at will.
My altar is quite impressive, I must admit. I really have no merit as each piece came as a godsent. A painting of Lord Ganesh by Walter Covanti is the centerpiece. I have added some plants, an incense burner. Photophores were designed by Maurice Filipozzi. I like to leave on the altar a meditation shawl(pitambar), my malas and other sacred jewelry when not in use. All these ritual items get ”potentized” by the energy (prana) that is abundant in a sanctuary or sacred place.
In India, they have a variety of oil burning lamps and incense burning is part of daily life. A nice scented candle can replace advantageously both oil lamp and incense in our claustrophobic winterized interiors. Lighting a candle symbolizes a readiness to get attuned with the Divine.
My preference goes to beeswax candles which are really spiritual and energizing. They diffuse a soothing bright yellow light, a delicate nutty aroma while emitting negative ions which are supposed to make one feel happier. Divine beeswax is perfect for upasana.
Filed under: Upasana | Tags: Ayurveda Living, brahmamuhurta, padmasana, Upasana
In the same manner that there is for most of us a sleeping ritual, there is a protocol for upasana or meditation which is a very special state of consciousness. We do not sleep anywhere anyhow but we lie in a comfortable and clean bed in a proper room at specific hours. There are certain rules for upasana and the first one is regularity. If you have already an established spriritual practice, this is not for you. If, on the contrary, you are suffering and searching for relief, you may find here some useful tips.
We may call Padmasana the royal posture for meditation. Impressive, indeed, but difficult to get and keep. As many other yoga figures, padmasana may be very painful at first but what an enjoyment when it is mastered. This is a scientific position through which soul is elevated while body and mind are treated.
You may have these visions of yourself sitting in Padmasana (lotus position) at brahmamuhurta, the most auspicious time of the day before sunrise. As simple as it may seem, it is not easy. Not only for people past their prime, but for anybody raised outside Vedic culture and, therefore, not initiated at a tender age. Sitting in padmasana requires practice. Try it. Your joins are locked and honestly, it hurts!
Arm yourself with courage, patience, determination and … a good cushion.
Mahesh Maharishi Yogi must be credited to have introduced meditation in a big way in the West in the second part of the twentieth century. He had labelled Transcendental Meditation a very ancient spiritual practice known for millennia. The rest is history. Meditation is getting acceptance to the point of becoming trendy even mainstream in more than one ways.
All meditation is transcendental. It is generally taught as a therapy to calm the mind, release stress and induce states of contentment leading to happiness. Meditation is aimed at reaching higher levels of the mind and our inner Self and our Higher Power at the same time and this is Upasana. Some are said to experience great spiritual happenings, others find some form of useful relaxation which can even relieved them from the foes of deep depression. Much can be said about this great mystical science of depression but this would be outside our fields of compentence and the range of our objectives.
Meditation is a must on the way to self-healing and life mastering. Start small, a few minutes a day, and then increase the lenght of your sittings by a few minutes until you feel comfortable. Do not attempt to sit in padmasana as in the pictures unless you are very supple. It will be very difficult to concentrate if you feel pain all over your body. Sit in a chair if you cannot sit on the floor with your legs crosssed. It is important to keep your back and your head straight, your shoulders relaxed and your hands on your tights. First observe your breath, make it regular and then subtle, observe your thoughts. Later on, you could add a mantra, You may like to listen to some new-age music or some guided meditation commentaries for positive thinking.
All agree that regularity is the golden rule of meditation as we mentioned it earlier. Keep a special meditation slot in you time schedule and think of place as your meditation spot. It is highly preferable to meditate on an empty stomach early in the morning and also in the evening to let go of the daily frustrations and prepare yourself to a restful night of sleep.
Why is regularity (same time, same place) is so important?
First, the time. it is very important to coerce body and mind in some form of routine, some kind of discipline. Without discipline, there is no gain neither in the spiritual world nor in the material world. Success does not come by chance usually. Within a well-established routine, mind and body become obedient servants and work in harmony. Meditation becomes the happy hour, a well anticipated festive moment. Be prepared to hear protests from your ego which will suggest our good arguments to let go of your spiritual practice.
Then the place. It is very important to have a special set-up for your upasana, some kind of a small sanctuary, even an altar. With time, this place will become energized and full of positive vibes. It will be a place of peace and calm where you will find renewed energies as in some sort of temple. Your own spiritual practice will suffice to transform this space. You will be happy in your own company and that of your Higher Self.
Your sanctuary can be as simple as a single votive candle which symbolizes your readiness to attune with the Divine.
Upasana at Brahmamuhurta
The above illustration is the epitome of upasana. Most of us would love to meditate in such a manner. Would it not be great to sit on a lotus at sunrise, hands in chin or gyan mudra… Our spiritual practice may be however a far cry from this idyllic picture.
Upasana is a sanskrit word which means literally “sitting near God. What is God? Where is God? These great questions are answered in our daily lives. People may disagree on the semantics and even go to war for that purpose. Whatever is one’s view, there is something greater than us called the Absolute, the Supreme, the Infinite, the Source, etc. the principle of all things and ultimately our life beat. Our pulse is nothing else than our soul ticking …
Upasana is an asana for the soul. Humans are body-mind and soul as it is generally recognized. We – outside India – called yoga a sort of gymnastics that is in fact the fourth the eight limbs of yoga. So what we call yoga is in fact hatha yoga, physical exercise that unite body and mind. Asana means comfortable and stable posture.
Meditation is another part of yoga, this dhyana, the seventh limb, which follows a few other intermediate steps. Again, outside India, we like talk about yoga and meditation as two separate things when in fact meditation is part of yoga.
So we do asanas to align our bodies and minds but what we do for our souls. Of course, we can and should meditate if we have been initiated to it but again there are many traditions and probably as many forms of meditation as they are meditators.
One thing we can agree is that the soul -our life principle -needs to be fortified and kept healthy as our mind and our body. Upasana – sitting near God – is a spa for the soul. In upasana, the soul finds joy and happiness which is what keeps it bright and alive.
We will see how to do upasana in our next discourse. In the meantime, keep on smiling. Smile is the expression as well as the source of joy, like a boomerang of happiness.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world”
Gandhi
Power of the present moment! Place and time to get started in Ayurveda is here and now. How? may require some serious studies. Ayurveda is not simple. People may not all agree on this, mostly Indian experts but for most of us, foreigners, Ayurveda is a great secret.
Your present situation is the result of your past thoughts and your future lies in your present thoughts. Each thought is translated in a word that becomes action and then a routine that creates a character and then a destiny. Ayurveda tells you to exert control of your life and teaches you how to do it. There may be events or circumstances that you cannot act upon but it is your duty to impact as much as possible on things nearer to you and this starts with your health.
Health in Ayurveda is not simply the absence of diseases (aarogya) but it is swasthya, total fitness of body – mind – spirit. It happens when all centers of energy functions properly without blockages and encumberances. Ayurveda ignores fragmentation. It treats the individual as a whole, not simply the disease. We are all one, connected, part of this Universe. Man is a microcosm of the Universe. Ayurveda brings a new consciousness, a cosmic awakening.
The two aims of Ayurveda are the preservation of health of healthy people as well as healing the sick. A body free of diseases is healthy, a mind that thinks positive is healthy and a soul that has faith is healthy.
Join Ayur ClubTM, International Community of Ayurveda, as a pro or as a fan. Be the change you wish to see in the world.
For yourself, take a pledge, write your name, place and time, and set yourself to your life mission with short-term and long-term goals. Each day, each week, each month, each year, review your objectives and compare your progress. The problem with most people is that they do not know what to expect from life, so they get very little.
Ayurveda: The Mantra of Niramaya (CD-ROM)
My first trip to India was in 1998 to Kerala for a mission of discovery of Ayurveda. I toured the first Ayurvedic resorts that were mushrooming to host people from all over the world. There has always been a fascination about India but at that time, there was a great euphoria. Arundhati Roy had just won the Booker Price for The God of Small Things and Independent India was only 51.
Ayurveda and related disciplines, as well as the great culture of India, came to me as a revelation and I was eager to learn as much as I could. I spent considerable time with people at Invis Multimedia in Trivandrum who were then working at Ayurveda: the Mantra of Niramamaya, a first encyclopedia type CD on Ayurveda.
So I was clueless about mantra and let alone Niramaya which I believed was the name of a woman or a deity, sho knows? Later on, I discovered that The mantra of Niramaya is a great classical Vedic hymn – not as universal as the Gayatri Mantra, still one of the greatest.
The mantra of Niramaya is aspiritual formula that goes like this:
“Sarve bhavantu sukhina,
Sarve santu niramaya,
Sarve bhadrani pashyantu,
Ma kaschit dukha bhang bhavet”
It says more or less that all people should live happy and prosperous in a world free of diseases. That enough is great enough to embrace Ayurveda and to see it flourish all over the world. It is also said that the full acceptance of Ayurveda would put the actual economy of the world in peril. I would certainly change the face of the world and give a new meaning to the words progress and civilisation.
Ayurveda, indeed, proposes a very refined and elevated way a life and this is what we are going to discover altogether.
