Sutras of ashthanga hrydayam & ashthanga sangraha by Premlata Kabra

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SUTRAS OF ASHTHANGA HRYDAYAM & ASHTHANGA SANGRAHAM a tribute to Bhai Rajiv Dixit

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Preface “One who is free from sorrows and tries to remove sorrows of the others is entitled for Moksh. Sorrows are of 3 kinds – Devik (god given/ chance), Dehik (health) and Bhautik (Wordly).”

I have been an ardent fan of Bhai Rajiv Dixit since 2010. I came across an audio cd by him on ‘Swadeshi Chikitsa’at a satyagrah against corruption held in Chennai in March 2012. Since then I have been trying to learn and teach the sutras of Ashthanga Hrydhayam and Ashthanga Sangraham to my family and close ones.

I found that Bhai Rajiv Dixit has his lectures & books in Hindi which many of my relatives & friends who hail from South India are not able to follow. This book is an effort to enlighten their minds with this concise insight into the much celebrated books of Ayurved – Ashthanga Hrydhayam and Ashthanga Sangraham written by Vagabhatt, a disciple of Rishi Charak.

In this book Bhai Rajiv Dixit mentions Vagabhatt’s idea of Moksha quoted above. Further Vagabhatt mentions that Manushya Yoni (Manushya Janam or Human Birth) is very rare. Self consciousness & Moksh (Nirvana/ salvation) can only be attained by Manushya.

And I felt I should make an effort to at least get closer to attaining Moksh…

CHAPTER 1

Condition of Healthcare in India today? 2001 Census of India Population: 112 Crores. Population of Healthy People: 25 to 30 Crores. Population of Unhealthy People: 82 to 87 Crores.

Government Efforts towards Medical Care Our government plans to have an infrastructure for health and wellness to be able to provide healthcare to all ailing citizens by 2014 according to the international agreement signed by 189 countries.

Health Budget of Central Govt & State Govt combined: ₹ 1,25,000 Cr/ Year. Currently in India we have 23 Lakh registered doctors and around 23 Lakh unregistered doctors (Allopathy, Homeopathy and Ayurved combined). Considering best estimates we 50 lakh doctors to treat 80 Crore patients, that is we have one doctor treating around 160 patients. A very proficient doctor can at best examine 50 patients per day. Hence our country most evidently will not be healthy by 2014 according to the international agreement. Furthermore our government has spent a lot more than 10 Lakh Crores to develop the doctors & according to the latest budget; we have reached our spending limit & it would get difficult to request for more budget. We need an alternative….

Role of MNC’s trying to benefit from the Unhealthy Loot of pharmaceutical MNC’s in India is phenomenal. - Proctor and Gamble is a US based company which makes 20,000 % profit in India by selling the allopathic drugs like Vicks and other medicines. - Eli Lilly is also a US based company which makes 35,000% profit in India by selling allopathic drugs. It is sad that most of the allopathic doctors act as Drug manufacture’s commission agents. Medical representatives pay 25 to 50% commission to doctors for prescribing expensive medicines to the common man. Indian Medical Council (IMC) and Indian Govt have failed completely to regulate these commission based marketing.

CHAPTER 2

Indian History & Medicine A mass survey was conducted by Britishers during 1810 to 1820’s to understand the status of health in colonial India (documents on this survey can be found in “House of Commons” library in London and “Parliament Library” in India). According to that survey, “200 years back only 8% Indian were unhealthy”. Similar views are held by Hardiker. Hardiker of Pune is called as the ‘Modern Charak’. (Charak was one of the principal contributors to the ancient art and science of Ayurved, a system of medicine and lifestyle developed in Ancient India. He is referred to as the Father of Medicine.). Hardiker encourages us to become our own doctors like we used to be 200 years back. He says we have been practicing Ayurved since thousands of years successfully while Allopathy is just a kid only 250 years old and most of the allopathic research has been to fight against pain. Over and above the fundamentals of Allopathy are based on ‘Trial and Error’ - if a particular treatment works, great or else try something different. Furthermore, the students of Allopathy are taught not to have emotions or empathy for the patient. This ideology is totally different from the Ayurvedic approach.. According to Ayurved, a patient is the best doctor as only he knows the pain of the patient. According to Vagabhatt, health issues are of 2 kinds – One that needs specialist care and one that be done by everyone by themselves. Of all the diseases, only 15% needs specialist care while 85% can be taken care of by self.

According to Hardiker given the current circumstances of our nation, taking care of ones own health might be the only realistic option we have.

Vagabhatt, disciple of Charak Vagabhatt was the disciple of Charak. Vagabhatt is revered by some even more than Charak as Vagabhatt has toiled more than Charak to bring Ayurved to the common man. Charak was a ‘divya yogi’ who used to meditate and come up with solutions to human ailments; but Vagabhatt was the one who tested and retested those medicines and spread it among common people so they could make use of this divine knowledge. Vagabhatt was a bhramachari and devoted his whole life for the development and propagation of Ayurved. Vagabhatt chose to embrace death at the age of 135 years – that’s the level of control he had over his own body. Vagabhatt wrote 2 books: Ashthanga Hrydhayam & Ashthanga Sangraham - 7000 sutras altogether.

CHAPTER 3

Ashthanga Hrydhayam & Ashthanga Sangraham If you want to be healthy - Know your Body & Know your Food.

Above mentioned quote is the essence of Ashthanga Hrydhayam & Ashthanga Sangraham. Furthermore Vagabhatt adds that ‘Knowing the Food is better that knowing your body’, ‘One who knows/understands the food requires no doctor’ & ‘Knowing your Food is knowing your kitchen’. Kitchen is the greatest pharmacy; the greatest chemical researches are done here. In India for thousands of years in the past food has been a topic of great research interest. That is the reason in India we have so much diversified food in contrast to western countries. In total Ashthanga Hrydhayam & Ashthanga Sangraham has around 7000 sutras. Out of these 7000 sutras, 50 sutras have been discussed here in this book. These sutras have been shortlisted as the most essential and relevant to our times. These 50 sutras have been furthermore shortlisted to 15 which will be discussed earlier in this book. The inference of the sutras is derived not only from the sutras, but from common knowledge of Modern Medicine & some specialized research conducted by Rajiv Dixit himself in conjunction with Central Drug Research Institute CDRI. Since these analyses are 5-6 years older, the current updates are not included in this book. This book is supposed to be a brief outline of his lectures, so feel free to do your own research. Further details/ references to the claims made in this book can be found in Bhai Rajiv Dixit’s book “Swadeshi Chikitsa” 6

SECTION 1

Sutra No 1 Food cooked while there is sunshine and touch of air is amruth, food cooked without sunshine and air is slow poison. There are 2 kinds of poison â&#x20AC;&#x201C; one that acts instantly and one that acts slowly. Inference Avoid/ Reduce use of pressure cooker According to Vagabhatt, the food item that requires more time to mature in the field needs to be cooked for relatively more time. For ex Arhar/ Toor dhal- matures in the field in 6 to8 months, hence it need to be cooked more to be absorbed into the body as opposed to brinjal that matures in 3 months. The pressure cooker intervenes with the nature here - Extra pressure is applied on the food along with water, hence the pressure cooker soaks or breaks dhal (mistaken as cooking) and the micro nutrients in it. Hence it is advisable to use the cooker without the whistle on it. Solar cookers are also a good option (avoid Aluminum vessels though). Electric cookers are not so good options. Avoid use of Aluminum Vessels 99% of all pressure cookers are made of Aluminum. Aluminum vessels are the most ill-suited for cooking or storing the food. 18 years of research shows that aluminum vessels cause Diabetes, Asthma, Bronchitis, Arthritis and TB. There are 48 diseases that purely stem out of usage of pressure cookers. Usage of Aluminum was never a thing of the past. 125 years back aluminum vessels were introduced by East India Company (EIC) for jail inmates (freedom fighters) in India (this custom still follows as the rules have not been changed even after 65 years of independence). According to a research conducted by CDRI, the Im-

munity of jail inmates deteriorates by consumption of food in Aluminum vessels as opposed to non-Aluminum vessels. Today the rich and poor alike are using Aluminum vessels/ pressure cookers in the kitchen. The logic given by most of the people (mothers and sisters who cook food) is that Aluminum vessels/ pressure cooker saves a lot of time and cooking gas. My question back to them is – “What you do with saved time? 95% of the time I get a response that they watch TV serials! Well, If you or your family member falls sick and is hospitalized, the time spent in the hospital would square the time saved using Aluminum vessels/ pressure cooker. Using Al foils to wrap food is as bad as using Al vessel to cook food. Packing food in a flimsy cloth is the best alternative.

Start using Earthen Vessels for Cooking/ Storing Food Earthen pots are recommended for cooking as Earth is a bad conductor of heat; hence it cooks the food slowly and evenly all over. Moreover Earth contains all the 18 micro nutrients needed by the body – After sheha kriya when our body gets converted into ash, that ash also contains these same micro nutrients. A test done by CDRI Delhi, acclaimed that the micronutrients in food cooked in earthen pots were almost 100% intact while the food cooked using pressure cooker has only 7% micronutrients. There are several different types of clay from which earthen pots can be made. The Potters recognizes those types and selects the clay for making the vessels accordingly. For ex the clay with higher calcium & magnesium is used for making pots. Hence Potters are great scientists & doctors who supply very essential micronutrients of food via earthen vessels. Earth contains – 18 micronutrients – calcium, silicon, iron, Sulphur, etc, which are essentials for body. Body needs all these 18 micro nutrients for well balanced growth. Food cooked in earthen pots contains all these 18 micronutrients. Using Earthen pots alone to make food is capable of relieving us from diseases like diabetes. Affluent families in India who have realized the importance of earthern pots use them for cooking purposes. Ex: TVS group family members & Ambani Family. If 8

20 cr families (approx 112 cr population) start using earthen vessels, it gives employment to the potters in the country, who are mostly un-employed. Alternative vessels made of metals are– -Kaansa (Copper) – 97 % micro nutrient remains. -Peetal – 93% micro nutrient remains. Get in touch with our soil by using earthen vessels in kitchen & travel from India to Bharat Avoid/ Lower the use of Microwave Oven In a Microwave oven, the food does not come in contact with sunshine or Air. Also the microwave technology destroys the molecular structure of the food to heat it and hence nutrients are lost. Avoid/ Lower the use of Refrigerator In a Refrigerator, the food does not come in contact with sunshine or Air. This view is also backed by Centre for Drug Research Institute, CDRI, Lucknow. How Refrigerator works - Refrigerator uses a refrigerant (a fluid) to remove heat from inside the refrigerator to keep vegetables cool. The refrigerant is essentially Chloro-Fluro-Carbons (CFCs). CFCs are a mixture of 12 gases. Any chemistry student will tell you that Chlorine; Fluorine & CO2 are deadly poisonous gases. (We all know that CO2 is poisonous, so we have a mechanism to exhale CO2 out of the body, if we force CO2 in our body, death is certain. These high pressure gases are so intense that they penetrate into the food even if we have placed our food closed in metal containers. The CFC’s are also responsible for greenhouse effect. The Refrigerator was invented mainly to - Store meat in Europe/ Americas as the temperature variation in the western countries is around 40 to 60 degrees (sometimes even more depending on geographic location). - To preserve allopathic medicine used extensively by Army.

Refrigerator is not needed for our environment; we in India have the luxury to consume our food the moment it is plucked from the tree/ plant.Also consuming food that is +/- 3 degrees from our body temperature can cause cramps & cancerâ&#x20AC;Ś Usage of earthen pots for drinking water as opposed to a refrigerator would be excellent as it only reduces the water temp to an acceptable range. If you cannot get rid of the refrigerator at least make sure that the cooked (heated) food placed in the refrigerator once is not reheated before use - You can use it after 48 mins of lying outside. A more realistic approach is to minimize the use of refrigerators at home. And hopefully there might be a day in the future when the idea of getting rid of the refrigerator might not be that far-fetched.

SECTION 2

Sutra No 2 Consume food within 50 pals (48 minutes) of cooking. Any food kept beyond 50 pal starts to degrade. After 12 hours none of the nutrients remains…and after 24 hours the food is not even fit for animal consumption. Inference Make an effort to consume food within 48 mins of its cooking. Prefer fresh homemade food over processed & packaged food. Processed & packaged food contains preservatives, emulsifiers, added colors and flavors that are carcinogenic. It was shocking to me that Maggie noodles has Monosodium Glutamate MSG which is carcinogenic. Since people have got smart to realize that Maggie has MSG, Nestle now has new names for MSG on its packaging… like E635, E635, 627 or 631. Say NO to Processed Food/ Instant Food/ Fast Food Jains relate to consumption of food before 48minutes to Ahimsa as after 48 mins the bacteria starts to develop. If the kids go to school early in the morning and only return back by evening, have the kids eat a heavy food before they go to school. To make sure that the kids are hungry by morning, ask them to have dinner by 6.00 to 7.00 pm and sleep by 8.00 – 8.30 pm. So when they wake up at 4.00 am, they are very hungry and will eat the food you prepare for them. Breakfast needs to be the heaviest meal of the day. Also, kids drinking just milk without any solid foods before going to school will result in ulcer and peptic ulcers in future. 11

SECTION 3

Sutra No 3 Choose fresh ingredients to make your food. Wheat flour should be consumed within 15 days. Other cereals (jawari, makki, bajra) flour within 7 days. Other ingredients of food should not to be more than 7 days old. Inference Most of the time the grocery sold at supermarkets are very old as the grocery items make a long journey from Farm to the Supermarket. And when the grocery is at the last stages, the supermarkets offer a bumper sale on these food items which are well received by us, the customers.

According to an independent research, edibles sold in supermarkets are far from fresh & preservatives are the only reason we are able to eat them without realizing its stale.

Make an effort to buy from wholesalers, directly from the farm or even better â&#x20AC;&#x201C; grow your own food. To make sure that your family gets fresh grocery you might have to strive a bitâ&#x20AC;Ś I would strongly recommend you to strive for sukhmay life not a suvidhamay one.

How is Chakki is good for health: Rural women who operate chakki for fresh flour have very low cases of cesarean pregnancy or arthritis. The uterus of women gets a good exercise by operating chakki. According to Ayurved- even till the 7th month of pregnancy, expecting mothers can operate the chakki. After Menopause (around 45+ age) there are sudden hormonal changes in the body which can result into shivering, perspiration, flashes, depression etc. Allopathic treatment suggests hormone replacement therapy for such patients which 12

increases the weight of the patient with no permanent cure for problems. But it can be controlled with kitchen equipments like chakki and sil batta (masala powdering equipment).

Why is Chakki/ Sil batta more effective than Gym India is a Vaat kind of country as we have predominantly hot climate here. Hence we should avoid faster movements to keep a check on increasing Vaat. Increase in Vaat can be fatal. Hence we should resort to slower exercises. Because of this Vaat nature of our country slower dances have been popular and sustained like Bharatanatyam, Kathakali etc. And that is exactly why bullock-carts have massive wheels. If our ancestors wanted they could have designed a sleeker wheel, but evidently they cared for the animals as much as they cared for themselves. In western countries Vaat is low, hence to increase it they resort to faster exercises and dances like ballet, disco etc.

SECTION 4

Sutra No 4 There are 3 categories for age: From birth till 18 years, from 18 to 60 years and from 60 to 125 years. The children of age between 1 year and 18 years play outdoor games, they should not be made to do productive work or labor. People between the age of 18 & 60 should undertake ample amount of physical work. After the age of 60, the amount of physical work should decline gradually. Inference Technology used by our ancestors used to control our diseases, but lately in the name of development we have brought diseases inside the houses. All the machines have reduced the work of the body and in turn we have turned into machines too as the fun part of our lives have been lostâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; Earlier when people used to work together, they used to sing songs together. There used to be different songs for different chores.. one while powdering masala.. another while sowing seeds.. etc. Every occasion or chore had special songs associated with it. We have lost all that, now boredom is one of the grave problems. Bhai Rajiv Dixitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team is trying to revive our lost folk songs.

SECTION 5

Sutra No 5 Live along with the geographical conditions. Inference India a country of hot climatic zone - hence we have more Vaat problems here. 70 to 85 % of our problems are caused by Vaat; 10 % - 13% are Pitt related diseases & 10 % Kaph related diseases. It is recommended that we do not do anything that increases Vaat ex: running. Running in India is not very advisable, morning walk is. Food should also be consumed according to geographical location. A simple rule of thumb is to consume foods grown locally and according to respective climate. For example: People from Rajasthan living in Chennai should consume rice, bajra or jowari and not wheat. If you are in a different geographical region and still want to eat food from a different geographical region, have it with gud and ghee. Dry fruits: Cashews & Akhroot are good for colder climates (J&K). Badam, big Kishmish & Apricot is good for hot climate (TN, Kerala) & Makhana for bihar & UP. Of all dry fruits, Kaaju (Cashews) is the only one that causes obesity. We all know that change is the way of life. So when we choose our paths we have to make sure that it is good for us. For example: Refrigerator and Microwave oven are a change that is not suitable countries with minor variation in temperature. An example of a good choice for us is that today we use chakki & cart wheels with bearing.. so now we get 3x production using the same effort â&#x20AC;&#x201C; An efficiency increase of 3x.

SECTION 6

Sutra No 6 Drinking water after eating food is equivalent to drinking poison. Inference In our stomach, digestive juices get collected in jatar or amashay. As the food eaten goes to amashay, the digestive juices start to consume the food. Now, if water is consumed immediately after eating food, the digestive juices in the jatar gets diluted and the food gets decomposed instead of getting digested. This results in gas. There are nearly 103 types of diseases directly related to this indigestion of food acidity, hyper acidity-ulcer, peptic ulcer, piles, high LDL cholesterol, cancer, Increase of cholesterol/fat etc. Water should be consumed after about 1.5 hours of eating food. This duration varies with respect to geographical location â&#x20AC;&#x201C; in colder climatic areas like Uttaranchal this duration is 2.5 hours. Also water can be consumed up to 40 to 50 min before eating food. If you are consuming different types of food, like rice and rotti, you can drink water in between those foods but not more than 2 to 3 mouthfuls. Once you complete your meal, you can have 1-2 mouthful of water just to clear your throat. And if you get really thirstly after your meal, try having - Seasonal fruit juice after breakfast. - Buttermilk after lunch. - And milk after dinner. The reason that these drinks are recommended at those particular timings is because the enzymes required to digest these drinks will only be present in jatar at those times. If you have to drink milk in the morning, consume it with amla. 16

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