Agni
Thou, oh Agni,
shining forth throughout the days, from the waters, from the stones,
from the forests and from the herbs, thou as the ruler of all human
souls, are ever born pure.
Rishi Gritsamada RV
II.1.1
In ancient Vedic thought, the
individual soul was symbolized by fire. Our inner soul, hidden like a
secret flame deep within our hearts, abides inextinguishable throughout
all our states of consciousness of waking, dream and deep sleep. It
endures as the witness through our every birth and death, through all
the many sojourns in the various worlds and planes of existence of our
soul’s vast manifestation. Being the
biological fire that governs
metabolism, agni encompasses
all the changes in the body and mind from the dense to the more subtle.
Such changes include the digestion and absorption of food, cellular
transformations, assimilation of sensory perceptions and mental and
emotional experiences. Agni therefore covers whole
sequences of chemical interactions and changes in the body and mind.
Digestive abilities being related to the strength of agni.
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Agni
and Pitta are closely connected. While both are hot
and light, agni is subtle and dry. The heat energy to help
digestion contained by Pitta is agni. Pitta is therefore the container and agni the
content. Agni is acidic in nature and stimulates
digestion. It is subtly related to the movement of Vata.
In every tissue and cell agni is present and is necessary
for maintaining the nutrition and auto-immune mechanism. By destroying
micro-organisms, foreign bacteria and toxins in the stomach and the
intestines.
A balanced agni therefore is vital for health. The strength of
the body to resist disease and also its physical strength are directly
related to its heat energy determining the metabolic processes of the
body. Disturbances to Agni are usually the chief causes of
disease.
As per
Ayurveda there are thirteen types of Agni in the body and mind
according to the conversion and the transformation made. The most
important of them is the Jathar agni, the gastric fire,
responsible for digesting food eaten by correlating hydrochloric acid in
the stomach and the digestive enzymes and juices secreted into the
stomach, duodenum and the small intestines. If digestive agni is low and the capacity is impaired, one may experience pain,
discomfort, feeling of heaviness or
gases gurgling, constipation or
loose stools.
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Ayurvedic purification procedures
It
has now been scientifically shown that a natural purification treatment
can successfully eliminate environmentally toxic substances such as
polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB's) and pesticides from the body, without
damaging side effects.
A study at the Institute of Science,
Technology and Public Policy at Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield, Iowa in collaboration with a special laboratory at Colorado
University demonstrated that classical Panchakarma treatment eliminated
up to 50% of the detectable toxins in the blood.
Chemicals injure health
The world's largest facility for
substance identification, the Chemical Abstracts Service in Columbus,
Ohio, USA, currently has more than 13 million artificial substances
registered. At least 100,000 of these industrial commodities combine
into a chemical “soup” which we constantly absorb through food, air and
our skin. Experts calculate that in Germany 30% of the population suffer
from environmentally induced diseases.
Most of the toady's environmental
toxins are lipophils that accumulate in the fatty tissues of the body.
These fat-soluble toxins are associated with a range of diseases such as
hormone disruption, immune system suppression, allergies, diseases of
the liver and skin, various types of cancer, neurological illness,
reproductive disorders and deformities.
The study
The study consisted of two parts: a
cross-sectional comparison and a longitudinal pre- and post- treatment.
It was designed to examine the level of contamination by toxins in the
population and the effectiveness of Panchakarma treatment in eliminating
these poisons.
Panchakarma Treatment
Several modalities in the Ayurveda
detoxification procedure use non-toxic, lipophilic materials, such as
clarified butter in the oleation phase and herbalized sesame oil in the
massage and enema treatments. These traditional methods are believed to
sequentially loosen and remove lipid soluble toxicants from their
deposited sites and stimulate their elimination.
The cross-sectional study
88 subjects, age 45 years and older,
participated in the cross-sectional study: 48 had previously undergone
the detoxification procedure an average of 18 times and 40 had not.
Blood samples from both groups were sent to the Analytical Laboratory in
the Department of Environmental Health at Colorado State University that
was blind to the treatment status of the subjects.
PCBs and Pesticides Found in Blood
Samples
Blood samples from both cross-sectional
groups were assayed for 17 lipophilic toxicants, including 9
polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and 8 pesticides and
metabolites, such as DDE, a by-product of DDT. The specific PCBs and
pesticides that were studied had either been previously linked to major
health problems or had been of high concern for their potential
toxicity.
The results showed that blood levels of
PCBs and several pesticides were significantly lower in the
detoxification group than in the controls.
The longitudinal study
In the longitudinal study, blood
samples from 15 subjects who participated in the Vedic Approach to
Health (MVAH) Ayurvedic detoxification procedure were assayed, pre- and
post-treatment, by Colombia State University Analytical Laboratory.
The results of the two-month
longitudinal study showed that PCBs and Beta-HCH levels were reduced by
46 percent and 58 percent respectively in the MVAH detoxification group.
Without this intervention, the expected drop in PCBs and Beta-HCH over
two months would be only a fraction of one percent. Previously, no
method had been scientifically verified to reduce levels of these
lipid-soluble toxicants in the human body without causing negative side
effects.
Assessment
The study came to two conclusions:
1) An alarming finding of the study was
that PCB and DDE levels appear to be unexpectedly high in the general
population, and may actually be increasing. This is surprising since
these toxicants were banned decades ago in many countries. However they
have not disappeared from the environment since they have half-lives
several years in duration. Also they are still entering the food chain
through imports.
2) Within days Panchakarma treatment
eliminated a large proportion of these fat-soluble toxins from the body.
Without this intervention, the expected drop would be only a fraction of
one percent.
Study Shows Banned PCBs and
Agrochemicals in Blood Reduced 50 Percent
By Centuries-Old Detoxification
Procedure.
Reference: Alternative Therapies in
Health and Medicine, (Sept./Oct. 2002),
Vol. 8, No. 5: pp. 93-103
Ayurvedic Physiology
Agni
Dr.
Satish Kulkarni.
Agni is the fire inside our body. Agni is the body which governs
living beings physically and mentally. We can describe it as an element
related to our general body metabolism. We have seen in the last article
that Agni is the successor of pitta (one of the tridoshas i.e. the basic body constituents) and pitta is the
successor of Divine Fire (tej) (one of the five supreme powers). Agni plays a vital role in the creation and maintenance of dhatus (body tissues). There are seven types of agnis for
seven different dhatus.
Agni is related to
both the body and the mind. It initiates digestive activities in the
digestive tract and generates thoughts, emotions and decisions in our
psyche. Agni contains heat which helps in the digestion of
external elements that enter our body. The food which enters our
digestive tract is converted into life sap with the help of agni.
This then goes on to ensure our survival, growth and recovery from
illness.
The knowledge
of the external environment which enters our body through our special
senses is transformed into memories with the help of agni which
further initiates thoughts, generates emotions and helps in taking
decisions.
The main
function of agni is the break down of external stuff and its
conversion into body stuff. Agni works with and for every body
tissue. Agni gears the dosha-dhatu-mala cycle and thus
life goes on.
Agni also helps in destroying ama (toxins). These are produced if
there is an imbalance of doshas. In other words agni helps
in maintaining the status of health and in interrupting the disease
process. Thus agni is a statutory body which governs our immune
system.
Agni protects us
from both external as well as internal problems. It saves us from attack
by external and internal ‘terrorists’. Agni keeps a careful watch
on the body functions. A wide range of functions (from digestion of food
to giving color to the skin) is taken care of by agni.
Impairment of agni suggests that the basic balance of the tridoshas has
been hampered. Affected metabolism, compromised immunity and lowered
general body resistance are all results of impaired agni. If agni is impaired, food will not be digested properly. It will not
initiate the chain of formation of the seven dhatus (from rasa to shukra) in a proper way. Instead of creating a life sap, ama (toxins) will be created and these will accumulate in the body.
The body channels will choke and life will enter a state of illness.
To summarize, ama indicates a diseased body. Ama is produced when agni (body fire) is retarded, which in turn is a result of the
imbalance of tridoshas (vata-pitta-kapha). Agni’s functioning depends on the food, clothes and shelter we use. It also
depends on the things we see, hear, smell, taste and touch. If these
things are pro-life then we will also be healthy. If these things are
anti-life then we may acquire ill health.
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