Ayurveda Initiative For Global Health

Peristylus constrictus Habit - Ground orchid  Habitat - moist deciduous forest Flowering and fruiting - June- July  (Aromatic ground orchid)  Medicinal uses - They use leaf juice to stop bleeding from fresh cuts on the body; the mashed underground tubers are used to cure the pain from the wasp or bee stings.  Place - Rourkela Forest Division, Odisha, India Sugimani Marndi

Chapter 3 - Samadhi  Day 16 In vichara, there are all the experiences - smell, sight, visions, taste or sounds. When you meditate, all experiences and thoughts - observing the thoughts that come and go. There are two states of mind that surface in you often. One is a thought which disturbs you and the other is a thought that does not disturb you, but that which just hovers around in your consciousness and you are aware of it.  You are in samadhi you are in an equanimous state of mind. At the same time, there are thoughts hovering. It is a part of meditation. Thoughts exist and experiences exist. This is a second type of Samadhi, or awareness. The third is ananda which means a blissful state. Have you noticed that after you do Kriya, you are in a different space?  When you sing bhajans, you are in a different space of Samadhi. This mind is still elevated. The consciousness is still elevated and equanimous but it is in ecstasy. The samadhi is ecstasy. This is al...

Chapter 3 - Samadhi  Day 15  What is the purpose of this sadhna? Vitarka - when your mind has a special logic to pursue in the world and to perceive the truth. Tarka means logic. Kutarka means wrong logic - when then intention is not right and the logic is applied only to find fault, when you know deep inside you that something is not right, but you still logically prove that it is right. Vitarka is special logic. You may be talking about dispassion and logically you are understanding it, and this logical understanding, hearing or talking has a certain effect on your consciousness. It elevates your consciousness. You are in a different space. This is samadhi. Samadhi means equanimity. "Dhi" is the intellect - the faculty that sustains you, faculty of consciousness. Now, we are in a state of Samadhi, because we are talking about the Self with a definite logic, an undeceivable logic. Logic can always change. You can put it on one side or you can put on the other. Th...

This week we studied members of the Anacardiaceae family, popularly known as the Cashew or Mango family. Let's do a quick recap of the major characteristics of this family. 🌷Most members of Anacardiaceae are native to tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Several species are economically important fruit and nut crops.  🌷Members are mostly trees or shrubs 🌷Members of the family have resin ducts and tannin sacs in the bark and characteristically exude gums and resins that become black when exposed to air. These might be source of useful oils, resins, and lacquers. 🌷The leaves vary diversely and are usually deciduous, alternately arranged, lack stipules, may be simple or compound leaves that are mostly imparipinnate  🌷Many species are dioecious, meaning male and female flowers are produced on different individual plants. 🌷Flowers are often tiny, and produced in terminal panicles. Individual flowers usually have bracts. 🌷Most membe...

Chapter 3 - Samadhi  Day 14  There is a story about Diogenes of Greece. When Alexander the Great saw him, he was being carried out to be sold as a slave. The people who were taking him to be sold also looked like slaves. Diogenes announced that he was a slave and asked loudly who wanted to buy him.  Because he was roaring like a lion, it was difficult for the people to make out who was the slave and who was selling the slave. Before Alexander the Great came to India, people in his country had told him that if he found some sanyasi here he should bring them back with him that, they were very precious and were there only in India.  So, when he was in India he ordered that some sanyasis should come to him. But, nobody would come. He then sent a message threatening them. He said that if they did not come, he would chop off their heads. Even then, nobody came. So he said that he was going to take away their books - the four Vedas and some other scriptures, too...