Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Q: Gurudev, Is 'Ojas' the same as happiness? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:  Happiness is different from Ojas. Ojas is a certain type of energy, vibrancy in you. Like in the morning you are very vibrant, then you go to work and get tired, and in the evening you don’t have that same energy, right? In the same way, when you are enjoying through the five senses, you see television for three hours, or you sit in a movie for three hours and come out, your Ojas is spent. If you listen too much, or eat too much, your Ojas is gone. Too much sex and Ojas totally gets depleted.  Ojas is spent when you are engaging in any of the five senses. Ojas can be rebuilt in the system through proper food, rest and attitude, but not very late in life. You cannot say that you are trying to rebuild your Ojas at the age of 60 or so. It has to be done before a certain age. It is like you cannot become very flexible after a certain age. Ojas is certain vibrancy in you, energy. Our body has seven subs...

Q:  While Ayurveda is considered to be indigenous system of medicine then why do English medicine has a government take over Ayurvedic medicines. Also English medicine claims to have faster recovery rate? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji : You know statistics show contrary to this.  Even in modern medicine, the probability factor of medicine not affecting is very high. Research says Placebo effect with modern medicines is nearly 40%. Modern medicines are being discovered every day and those which were used 10 – 12 years ago are being discarded. Problem is that these pharmaceutical companies have lot of economical interest. It is economy which is ruling modern medicine rather than effectiveness. I feel we should have a combined, holistic approach. Ayurveda has some very good qualities, allopathic medicines also have some very good aspects and also homeopathic. Holistic medicine is the best. It is wrong to completely discard modern medicine and it is equally wrong to d...

Question - Gurudev, how do I improve my creative thinking? Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji -  It is very important for us to probe into the source of thought.  Often we are called great thinkers, but what is a thought? Where does it originate? Is there any way that we can improve the thought process? What is the source of creativity? Thought is nothing but an impulse of energy and intelligence. That impulse of energy and intelligence, for it to arise and a correct thought to come, you need 16 impulses to meet at a point in the cerebral cortex at a certain speed. In that short interval of time, all the 16 impulses in the cerebral cortex, when they meet, is what we call a correct thought.  What do we do about it? We need to train our brain, our mind. There is always dialogue going on in your own mind. We all have a filter in our mind through which we listen and we accept only what we already know.  Something which doesn’t already fall within our belief syst...

Q: Gurudev  I seem to have trouble sleeping.? Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: ~ You should undergo the Ayurvedic treatment.  In Ayurveda we have the Shankhpushpi Syrup which will help you to sleep well.  Also yoga and pranayama will help.  You should do pranayama at night, just before going to bed.  That will help you sleep. Similarly some Chinese herbs and Ayurvedic herbs are there which are used to cleanse your body, cleanse your intestine and stomach.  Once in a while you must take these herbs.  Triphala is an Ayurvedic herb which cleanses the liver and the intestines. Once in a week it is good to use these Ayurvedic herbs.  And regular practice of yoga and pranayama makes the body better.

*Gurudev :* How many of you have body pains since early in the morning, raise your hand ?                (There was about 25% of the crowd raising their hands) *Gurudev : * You know why? We eat the crops that are cultivated by using chemical fertilizers. This causes a lot of diseases in our body. Do you understand?                We don’t detoxify the body. To get good yield, we use artificial chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Because of these fertilizers, soil turns toxic and the produce from the soil in turn becomes toxic and our body gets toxic substances as we eat them which cause disease and pain.