Ojas
More powerful than money or position, gold or guns is the ability to attract and inspire people. It is so dangerous, in fact, that the attractive power of women have caused wars, destroyed careers, and created distractions and downfalls.
Women have fought for attractive men by seducing them, luring them into marriages, and promoting them to positions of power. Musicians use their intoxicating music to inspire, and their charisma to attract followers. In Ayurveda, the ability to attract and inspire creates great Acharyas, who can teach difficult concepts lucidly, inspire the quest for inner power, and demonstrate the power of knowledge.
This ability to attract and inspire is found in people who have an indescribable vitality, sensuality, glow, and resilience. In Sanskrit-derived languages, it is known as Ojas. Derived from the dhatu, or Sanskrit root sound elements, ubja (S., force) and asun (S., powerful), ojas describes the state of optimal health. Everyone knows Ojas, yet few know Ojas. Ojas is that state of well-being in which the body-mind reflects true strength through resilience and vitality that keeps it healthy and supple and prevents decay and degeneration of the body.
There is a connection between the mind and the body that develops self-esteem, knowledge of self, and an inner power, which reflects itself through a glow and lustre that is both alluring and attractive.
Ojas is also an Ayurvedic concept approximate to the modern medical concept of the immune system. Immunity is the ability to detect self vs. non-self, for our white blood cells to know what to attack to protect us, and what is actually our own bodies’ healthy cells. Ancient Sanskrit texts describing Ayurveda 5000 years ago offer clinicians specific resources on diseases caused by impaired immunity, such as hypersensitivity, auto-immunity, cancers, immunodeficiency, and infectious diseases. They conceived the gut’s digestive fire and the immunity we build there as a central pillar in our health.
The Origin of Less Vitality
Ayurveda tells us that negative and unfocused emotions lurking in the mind are the cause of many diseases. They cause us to be less perceptive, or to misperceive the world around us, known as as tmyendriy . As our mind becomes full of aberrant, non-focused movements, known as vata aggravated, it will cease its ability to focus on important issues.
It will become amenable to emotions of the six ripus, which are taught in dharmic philosophies: kama, krodh, lobha, mada, moha, matsarya. The mind is then unable to enter meditative states easily. It will disconnect from its power over the body, and the body will disobey the will of the mind. Addictions happen here when the mind cannot cope with the dissonance of these shad-ripu.
Shad-ripu, the six enemies
1. Kama, pleasure or desire.
2. Krodha, anger.
3. Lobha, greed.
4. Mada, drunk or under influence of strong emotion.
5. Moha, confusion.
6. Matsarya, jealousy.
Ayurveda also tells us that when we become uncentered in our mind and heart, we make choices that are ignorant to our inner wisdom, known as prajnaa-aparadha. Whether they are actions, thoughts, or decisions, if they are made when we are not centered, we can make choices that lead to less vitality and loss of strength, mental power, and Ojas.
The gut is the central focus for Ayurveda’s interventions. Known as the mahasrotas, the gut and its fires digest all we take in. The origin of many imbalances is in what we eat, when we eat, and how we eat. One of the primary sources of the loss of our ojas is the lack of attention to our diet. Attention to our food habits, known as pathya, is a central tenet to building Ojas.
The Anatomy of Ojas
Ojastu tejo dhatunaam shukrantanam param swetam. Ash. Hr. 11/37 The classic texts of Ayurveda describe Ojas as the eighth dhatu, or tissue of the body, composed of the best essence of all the tissues, dhatusara ojas. It is also a circulating essence, rasatmaka ojas, communicating throughout the body as the paragon of materials needed for vitality, making Ojas the best essence of Kapha in the body.
While Ojas is thought to be subtle, it also has grounded aspects, called para and apara ojas. Para Ojas isstationed in the hrdaya, or thorax/ chest region. It is said that there are just eight drops, ashtabindu in the body of para ojas and that it circulates through the ten main vessels (dhamani, dha=to vibrate) or channels that go out from the hrdaya.
These ten vessels could be interpreted as the vessels of the heart, as they vibrate with the pulse of the heart ventricles. It could also be a more holistic interpretation of vessels egressing from the thorax, influenced by the vibrations of the heart, including lymphatic vessels, blood vessels, and nerves. Several groups have proposed that para Ojas and the ashta-bindu refer to T-cells, which originate in the thymus gland, also located in the thorax. Apara Ojas is described as nourishing the tissues and present throughout the body.
The rishis quantify it, implying a physical presence, as half an anjali, or half the amount held in cupped hands. Ayurvedic scholars propose that apara ojas refers to the circulating antibodies originating from B-cells, which are developed in the bone marrow. Ojas has ten attributes in the body that imply it as a substance: Guru (heavy), Sheeta (cold), Mrdu (Soft), Ślakshna (smooth), Bahala (densely abundant), Madhura (sweet), Sthira (stable), Prasanna (bright and clear in consistency), Picchila (sticky), Snigdha (unctuous).
These qualities become important when we correlate Ojas to modern anatomy and structures in the body. Prana-Tejas-Ojas The three subtle and pure energies underlying vata, pitta, and kapha are known as the triad of prana-tejas-ojas. In this yogic view, the subtle energy of air is Prana, the life force, that coordinates the breath, and governs the unfolding of consciousness.
The subtle energy of fire is Tejas, an inner radiance of vitality that results from proper digestion of everything we encounter, and governs the unfolding of all higher perceptive abilities. The subtle energy of water is Ojas, which is the internalized essence of digested food, water, air, impressions, and thoughts, resulting in a grounded vigor. The Concept of Immunity The regular onslaught of challenges in the environment requires protection for each individual. Ayurveda discussed the concept of vyadhi-kshamatva, the capacity of the body to fight against manifested disease, as well as the capacity of the body not to allow the disease to manifest and to check the disease process or pathogenesis as needed.
Ayurveda specialized in restorative sciences and doshic causes underlying disease processes, and focused on symptoms that reflected improvement of strength, or bala, of the body.
Ayurveda conceived three types of immunity that are responsible for the bala of a person:
1) a natural, inborn immunity that is inherited congenitally and comes through genetic pathways, called sahaja bala,
2) strength dependent upon time, age, and season, called kalaja bala, and
3) acquired immunity, slowly generated and cultivated through healthy lifestyle and specific food intake, called yuktikruta bala. The theory of self vs. non-self in modern immunology has been detailed in the past 50 years to describe the body’s processes of protection, as biomedical science has elucidated cells and chemicals in the body that correlate to immune system diseases.
The immune system is not only responsible for protecting the body from infectious diseases. Impaired immunity also manifests in a host of other conditions, including hypersensitivity, cancer, auto-immune diseases, and immunodeficiency. In the past ten years, the importance of the gut flora, called the microbiome, has come into focus as an important element in immune development and immune function, as well as a host of gastrointestinal diseases.
More powerful than money or position, gold or guns is the ability to attract and inspire people. It is so dangerous, in fact, that the attractive power of women have caused wars, destroyed careers, and created distractions and downfalls.
Women have fought for attractive men by seducing them, luring them into marriages, and promoting them to positions of power. Musicians use their intoxicating music to inspire, and their charisma to attract followers. In Ayurveda, the ability to attract and inspire creates great Acharyas, who can teach difficult concepts lucidly, inspire the quest for inner power, and demonstrate the power of knowledge.
This ability to attract and inspire is found in people who have an indescribable vitality, sensuality, glow, and resilience. In Sanskrit-derived languages, it is known as Ojas. Derived from the dhatu, or Sanskrit root sound elements, ubja (S., force) and asun (S., powerful), ojas describes the state of optimal health. Everyone knows Ojas, yet few know Ojas. Ojas is that state of well-being in which the body-mind reflects true strength through resilience and vitality that keeps it healthy and supple and prevents decay and degeneration of the body.
There is a connection between the mind and the body that develops self-esteem, knowledge of self, and an inner power, which reflects itself through a glow and lustre that is both alluring and attractive.
Ojas is also an Ayurvedic concept approximate to the modern medical concept of the immune system. Immunity is the ability to detect self vs. non-self, for our white blood cells to know what to attack to protect us, and what is actually our own bodies’ healthy cells.
Ancient Sanskrit texts describing Ayurveda 5000 years ago offer clinicians specific resources on diseases caused by impaired immunity, such as hypersensitivity, auto-immunity, cancers, immunodeficiency, and infectious diseases. They conceived the gut’s digestive fire and the immunity we build there as a central pillar in our health.
The Origin of Less Vitality
Ayurveda tells us that negative and unfocused emotions lurking in the mind are the cause of many diseases. They cause us to be less perceptive, or to misperceive the world around us, known as as tmyendriy . As our mind becomes full of aberrant, non-focused movements, known as vata aggravated, it will cease its ability to focus on important issues.
It will become amenable to emotions of the six ripus, which are taught in dharmic philosophies: kama, krodh, lobha, mada, moha, matsarya. The mind is then unable to enter meditative states easily. It will disconnect from its power over the body, and the body will disobey the will of the mind. Addictions happen here when the mind cannot cope with the dissonance of these shad-ripu.
Shad-ripu, the six enemies
1. Kama, pleasure or desire.
2. Krodha, anger.
3. Lobha, greed.
4. Mada, drunk or under influence of strong emotion.
5. Moha, confusion.
6. Matsarya, jealousy.
Ayurveda also tells us that when we become uncentered in our mind and heart, we make choices that are ignorant to our inner wisdom, known as prajnaa-aparadha. Whether they are actions, thoughts, or decisions, if they are made when we are not centered, we can make choices that lead to less vitality and loss of strength, mental power, and Ojas.
The gut is the central focus for Ayurveda’s interventions. Known as the mahasrotas, the gut and its fires digest all we take in. The origin of many imbalances is in what we eat, when we eat, and how we eat. One of the primary sources of the loss of our ojas is the lack of attention to our diet. Attention to our food habits, known as pathya, is a central tenet to building Ojas.
The Anatomy of Ojas
Ojastu tejo dhatunaam shukrantanam param swetam. Ash. Hr. 11/37 The classic texts of Ayurveda describe Ojas as the eighth dhatu, or tissue of the body, composed of the best essence of all the tissues, dhatusara ojas. It is also a circulating essence, rasatmaka ojas, communicating throughout the body as the paragon of materials needed for vitality, making Ojas the best essence of Kapha in the body.
While Ojas is thought to be subtle, it also has grounded aspects, called para and apara ojas. Para Ojas isstationed in the hrdaya, or thorax/ chest region. It is said that there are just eight drops, ashtabindu in the body of para ojas and that it circulates through the ten main vessels (dhamani, dha=to vibrate) or channels that go out from the hrdaya. These ten vessels could be interpreted as the vessels of the heart, as they vibrate with the pulse of the heart ventricles.
It could also be a more holistic interpretation of vessels egressing from the thorax, influenced by the vibrations of the heart, including lymphatic vessels, blood vessels, and nerves. Several groups have proposed that para Ojas and the ashta-bindu refer to T-cells, which originate in the thymus gland, also located in the thorax.
Apara Ojas is described as nourishing the tissues and present throughout the body. The rishis quantify it, implying a physical presence, as half an anjali, or half the amount held in cupped hands. Ayurvedic scholars propose that apara ojas refers to the circulating antibodies originating from B-cells, which are developed in the bone marrow. Ojas has ten attributes in the body that imply it as a substance: Guru (heavy), Sheeta (cold), Mrdu (Soft), Ślakshna (smooth), Bahala (densely abundant), Madhura (sweet), Sthira (stable), Prasanna (bright and clear in consistency), Picchila (sticky), Snigdha (unctuous).
These qualities become important when we correlate Ojas to modern anatomy and structures in the body. Prana-Tejas-Ojas The three subtle and pure energies underlying vata, pitta, and kapha are known as the triad of prana-tejas-ojas. In this yogic view, the subtle energy of air is Prana, the life force, that coordinates the breath, and governs the unfolding of consciousness.
The subtle energy of fire is Tejas, an inner radiance of vitality that results from proper digestion of everything we encounter, and governs the unfolding of all higher perceptive abilities. The subtle energy of water is Ojas, which is the internalized essence of digested food, water, air, impressions, and thoughts, resulting in a grounded vigor. The Concept of Immunity The regular onslaught of challenges in the environment requires protection for each individual.
Ayurveda discussed the concept of vyadhi-kshamatva, the capacity of the body to fight against manifested disease, as well as the capacity of the body not to allow the disease to manifest and to check the disease process or pathogenesis as needed. Ayurveda specialized in restorative sciences and doshic causes underlying disease processes, and focused on symptoms that reflected improvement of strength, or bala, of the body.
Ayurveda conceived three types of immunity that are responsible for the bala of a person: 1) a natural, inborn immunity that is inherited congenitally and comes through genetic pathways, called sahaja bala, 2) strength dependent upon time, age, and season, called kalaja bala, and 3) acquired immunity, slowly generated and cultivated through healthy lifestyle and specific food intake, called yuktikruta bala. The theory of self vs. non-self in modern immunology has been detailed in the past 50 years to describe the body’s processes of protection, as biomedical science has elucidated cells and chemicals in the body that correlate to immune system diseases.
The immune system is not only responsible for protecting the body from infectious diseases. Impaired immunity also manifests in a host of other conditions, including hypersensitivity, cancer, auto-immune diseases, and immunodeficiency. In the past ten years, the importance of the gut flora, called the microbiome, has come into focus as an important element in immune development and immune function, as well as a host of gastrointestinal diseases.
