Translations of Ayurvedic Principles III - the Physical and Mental Metabolism
- dianadem
- Aug 23, 2020
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 4, 2020
In the previous posts of Ayurvedic translations, you may have read about our body constitution, prakruti, and the natural imbalances, vikruti. When the latter goes to excess, we would have different stages of the disease, vyadhi. The transmission between our mind and body or how our body gives feedback about the state of the body and how the mind can regulate those processes may happen through different mind-body channeling states which are called the gunas. Processes of our healthy state are supported by the life force or the body power named the ojas
You can read the previous translations:
One of the main aspects of the Ayurvedic perception of health (as well as possibly other traditions of medicine) is the digestive power agni ("Fire" in Sanskrit). Although agni mostly does represent the digestive power, it relates also to "lesser agni" which encompasses metabolic processes many other organs such as liver, spleen, and kidneys and also relates to the metabolic power of different tissue. To simplify, every cell on its own has a "digestive power" because of every cell exchanging nutrients.
The main purpose of agni is to remove the toxins of the body, ama ("uncooked", "undigested"), and elimination of the by-products such as sweat, urine, stool, malas ("dirt" or "excretion" in Sanskrit). Agni is also involved in senses such as perception, taste, touch, hearing, it stimulates clarity and alertness.
This effect supports elevating ojas, the body's abilities or the life force to the optimal level
Ayurveda describes the natural qualities of agni which is light, hot, sharp, pungent and luminous. We can differentiate between different states of agni:
Samagni - the balanced state of digestive fire, it is proportional to the constitution or the balance of the doshas and eliminates toxins fast and efficiently as they are produced.
Mandagni - weak digestive fire because of dimmed light and lessened sharpness of agni. This relates to disturbance of the Kapha dosha and its cold and slow qualities result in hypometabolism which happens due to the accumulation of ama.
Tikshagni - overactive digestive fire. The qualities of hotness and sharpness are intensified beyond its normal optimal state for the doshas. This relates mainly to the imbalance of the Pitta dosha and leads to hypermetabolism which symptoms are excessive sweating, weakness of the gunas, weak sense of taste, and smell.
Vishamagni - erratic digestive fire due to less hotness, related to the Vata dosha. The high mobility of the Vata dosha causes irregular agni and may cause symptoms such as digestive pain, fatigue, and sometimes constipation or diarrhea.
There are also 13 different types of agni known. The Japharágni contains processes working
mainly in the gastrointestinal tract; responsible for alimentary digestion.
The 12 other agnis Five bhutagnis digest the elements: earth, water, air, space and the fire/energy agni. These types of agni are mainly situated in the liver. The seven agni of tissues, dhatuagni relate to the specific enzymes of the tissues. These relate to skin, blood, muscle, adipose tissue, bone, nerve tissue, and reproductive tissue agni.
The Pathways and Urges of the Body and Mind
Each of the seven tissues is associated with specific channels, the srotas ("channel", "river" in Sanskrit). Many other physical channels are known. Comparing to the views of modern or as we say, evidence-based medicine, Ayurveda speaks also of the numerous unseen energetic channels for example the pranavaha srotas, which carry the prana through the respiratory, digestive and mind-body systems.
About 15 different srotas are know just pertaining to the body and there are also several srotas that are built between the mind and body.
The body channels have three levels:
13 large channels pertaining to the main system of the body (respiratory, digestive, circulatory system, etc)
Moderate systems that mainly function through the endomembrane systems like lymph vessels, bronchioles in the lungs, tubules of the kidney
Cellular and subcellular systems, membranes, pores, and cellular junctions
To bring an example, Pránavaha Srotas (the vital breath channel or the life-breath channel) mostly relates to the breathing and breathing regulation system of the body and its main dosha is Vata. Either primary imbalance of the Vata dosha or/and blocking of the Pránavaha Srotas may lead to hyperventilation syndromes and shortness of breath. One of the symptoms of this type of vitiation is breathing with sound or pain during breathing. In the early stage of vyadhi (diseased states), quite young people can complain about chest pain when breathing (and sometimes mistakenly think it has to do with heart disease). The causes of Pránavaha Srotas vitiation are suppressing natural urges like hunger, irregular or too much/too little exercising, not having enough oils in nutrition, and neglecting the daily cycle. The symptomatic disease or blockages of these types of srotas might be asthma, chronic cough, or hiatal hernia.
Moving forward, we have to speak about the 13 natural urges (vegas) in the Ayurvedic texts. Ayurveda emphasizes gentle and natural methods instead of resisting or overcontrolling these natural urges. The natural urges (adhara vega) that should be let free and supported are the urge to sleep, to cry, to sneeze, to breathe, to belch, to yawn, to vomit, to eat to drink, to ejaculate, to defecate. Resisting these urges may lead to disease because of Prajnaparadha manifesting in the srotas. The concept of Prajnaparadha is a Sanskrit word literally meaning “crimes against wisdom”. Prajna refers to diseases that begin with psychological roots and later on have a somatic involvement.
There are also natural urges of dharana vega, the ones that are to be suppressed. These natural urges are greediness, grief, fear, anger, ego, shamelessness, envy, jealousy, passion, pride, arrogance, anxiety, anguish, inferiority complex, or timidity/helplessness. The dharana vegas are told to be the root cause of disease and also Ayurveda differentiates between speech and physical types of dharana vegas which involve speaking lies, rubbish, gossiping, speaking untimely and stealing, prostitution and physical violence. In most parts, the urges of dharana vega relate to the element of ether and relate to the Vata dosha. As with the natural urges of adhara vega, imbalances with these types of urges lead to blocking the srotas and somatization which can result in changing the intensity of the agni and accumulating toxins (ama) in the body.
Doshas and Byproducts of Digestion
Áma is an undigested food toxin. In a balanced state of health and balances agni, very little to none ama is accumulated. Kapha dosha is the most susceptible to the accumulation of ama and thus needs repeated therapies or daily lifestyle of ama-reducing diet. While some ama can be accumulated due to Pitta dosha as well, it can probably happen more due to lessening of the ojas because naturally higher power of rejuvenation usually balances out amas. Thus, if Pitta dosha has a problem with toxin accumulation, it would be better to add some ama-reducing foods, but focus also on the rejuvenation therapies which elevate the ojas. Vata dosha is the weakest of the constitution in terms of fast lifestyle changes and ama-reducing diet shouldn't be followed more than 1 week for this dosha and should be complemented with rejuvenating herbs and foods
Here is an excerpt directly from The Ãyurveda Encyclopedia by S.S Tirtha (reference below) for guidelines of the ama-reducing diet
As ama is reduced, they are excreted in the form of malas, the by-products of the metabolism. The elimination of ama that way is specific to the tissue the toxins are originated from and depends directly on the strength of the digestive fire.
If malas are not eliminated in a timely manner, they accumulate and start degenerating the tissues, this process may reach the state where the tissues can't regenerate themselves.
Hope you have digested these translations well and with balanced physical fire as well as intact metabolism. Check out the references below
References
1. The Ãyurveda Encyclopedia: Natural Secrets to Healing, Prevention & Longevity
Swami Sadashiva Tirtha, 2007
2. Ayurvedic Healing: Contemporary Maharishi Ayurveda Medicine and Science. 2012
3. Ayurveda: a Holistic Approach to Health. Author: Reenita Malhotra Hora; Publisher: Mandala Publishing Group, 2018
4. S. Jaiswal, L.L Williams, A glimpse of Ayurveda – The forgotten history and principles of Indian traditional medicine, J Tradit Complement Med. 2017 Jan; 7(1): 50–53.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5198827/
5. Inspirationyoga: Prajnaparadha, Our Crimes Against Wisdom
https://inspirationyoga.eu/2016/05/prajnaparadha-our-crimes-against-wisdom/
6. Ayush Herbs: Suppression of Natural Urges, Becoming Aware of Dharniya and Adharniya Vegas
https://www.ayush.com/suppression-of-natural-urges-becoming-aware-of-dharniya-and-adharniya-vegas
7. Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences: The Concept of Vegdharan in Ayurveda
http://ccras.nic.in/content/concept-vegdharan-ayurveda
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