Chapter One Doshas and Tastes
(Disease as parasitical presence and the immune self)
Diseases are beings with parasitical intentions. Some have collective bodies, like worms, bacteria and viruses, and show the same signs of collective consciousness that social insects like ants and termites do. Other diseases which have no bodies of their own “take possession” of an organism in order to express the compulsions of their individual existences.
Poor digestion produces a variety of physical and mental toxins collectively called ama in Sanskrit. Ama acts as food for parasites, encouraging them to thrive in the organism. Indigestion develops through poor eating and living habits. This sort of deliberate, willful indulgence in unhealthy practices is called in Sanskrit prajnaparadha (“crimes against wisdom”).
Indigestion prevents nutrients from reaching the tissues, and weakens the host’s immune defenses. The human aura is our first line of defense against parasitical beings. The skin and the gut form the second line of defense. A third line of defense, the immune system, waits to intercept and destroy any parasites that somehow find their way past the first two defenses. The immune system, which communicates with both the skin and the gut, is a sense organ with a “sixth sense” for intruders. The immune system is an intricate web of T-cells, B-cells, antibodies and lymphokines, a system of fascinating complexity all controlled by a single boss: ahamkara.
Ahamkara ensures that only those cells that swear allegiance to her lordship are allowed to remain alive in the body. All aliens are hunted down and ruthlessly slaughtered, and all rebels — mutant or cancerous cells — are mercilessly executed as a warning to other cells that might dare to resist her rule.
When she is injured, alien beings may find a weak spot in your defenses and strike you down.
She is your wife, your lover, your friend, your guide and advisor, your servant. She is your all-in-all. Above all, she is your mother. Ahamkara is feminine because she is a fraction of the Divine Mother Goddess Nature. She is your wife because she is always with you, bonded in the marriage of body to mind to soul which is you.
This “I-former” is your mother because she aggregates to herself all the building blocks that form you: the Five Great Elements, the sense organs and the mind. The ancient rishis, who knew this “I am” principle well, worshipped their own ahamkaras as mothers that they might enter into loving relationships with them.
Diseases arise when ahamkara is afflicted and immunity weakens. The Sanskrit word for immunity is vyadhikshamatva, which literally means “forgiveness of disease.” You retain your health only so long as you are willing to forgive
your stresses, shrug off adversity and adapt to new situations. Resistance to change always impedes the workings of your immunity. An old Sanskrit proverb tells us kshama cha janani: the essence of motherly love is forgiveness. Damage to the ahamkara-mother predisposes us to disease by weakening our innate forgiveness.
(Cosmic emanation: from pure existence to the three gunas)
Nature told them that first exists Pure Existence, The One Without a Second.
When within Pure Existence a desire for manifestation arises Consciousness and Will appear. These two mate together. Their offspring is Intellect, the power of discrimination. Intellect then individualizes itself into Ahamkara, the “I-former.” The universe fills with numberless little individual bundles of intellect all searching for a means of expression. According to their innate predilections these ahamkara-bundles manifest as: waves of kinetic energy known as Rajas, material particles of potential energy known as Tamas, and the subjective consciousness known as Sattva
Rajas is activity and Tamas inertia. Sattva is the balance of these two, for only consciousness can balance kinetic energy with potential energy.
There is therefore no inherent difference between, say, cooking your food in a pot on the stove and cooking your food in the pot of your stomach on the stove of your internal digestive “fire.” Both use heat to prepare the food for easier assimilation. Flames are used on the external stove and acid and enzymes on the inside, but the principle of cooking is identical to both.
(The three doshas: functions in body and mind)
Vata, which is the principle of kinetic energy in the body, is mainly concerned with the nervous system, and controls all body movement. Kapha, the principle of potential energy, controls body stability and lubrication. The tissues and wastes of the body, which Vata moves around, are Kapha’s province. Pitta controls the body’s balance of kinetic and potential energies. All of Pitta’s processes involve digestion or “cooking,” even if it is the cooking of thoughts into theories in the mind. The enzymatic and endocrine systems are Pitta’s main field of activity.
In the mind Vata retrieves previous data from memory for comparison with new data. Pitta processes the new data and draws conclusions, which Vata then stores as new memories. Kapha provides the stability needed for the mind to grasp a single thought at a time.
Vata, Pitta and Kapha are called doshas because the word dosha means “a thing that can go out of whack.” When Vata, Pitta and Kapha are out of balance with one another the system is bound to lose its own balance.
All “fires” in the body are contained in water. Stomach acid is for instance an extremely powerful acid, with a pH of 2. It burns anything it touches as surely as open flame or a bolt of lightning will burn. Acid is Fire contained in Water. When Fire predominates in this mixture the acid can burn through the natural containment facilities that Water provides.
Note that: Both Pitta and Kapha are oily, and Vata is dry, so dryness is characteristic of Vata. Dryness appears in the body or mind only when there is increase of Vata. Dryness is a side-effect of motion, which is Vata’s physiological function. The unevenness of excessive dryness introduces irregularity into the body and mind. Both Vata and Kapha are cold, and Pitta is hot, so heat is characteristic of Pitta. Heat appears in the body or mind only when there is disturbance of Pitta. Heat is aside-effect of transformation, which is Pitta’s physiological function. The intensity of excessive heat introduces irritability into the body and mind.
Heaviness appears in the body or mind only when there is disturbance of Kapha. Heaviness is a side-effect of stability, which is Kapha’s physiological function. The viscosity of excessive heaviness introduces slowness into the body and mind.
The force of Kapha is continually expelled from the body via mucus, Pitta is regularly excreted through acid
and bile, and Vata is eliminated both as gas and as muscular or nervous energy.
(The six tastes: elemental composition and dosha effects)
Sweet - Composed mainly of Earth and Water, Sweet increases Kapha, decreases Pitta and Vata, and is cooling, heavy and unctuous. It nourishes and exhilarates the body and mind and relieves hunger and thirst. It promotes increase in all tissues.
Sour - Composed mainly of Earth and Fire, Sour increases Kapha and Pitta, decreases Vata, and is heating, heavy and unctuous. Sour refreshes the being, encourages elimination of wastes, encourages spasms and tremors to abate, and improves appetite and digestion.
Salty - Composed mainly of Water and Fire, Salty increases Kapha and Pitta, decreases Vata, and is heavy, heating and unctuous. Salty eliminates wastes, cleanses the body and increases the digestive capacity and appetite. It softens and loosens the tissues.
Pungent - Composed mainly of Fire and Air, Pungent (which is hot and spicy like chili peppers) increases Pitta and Vata, decreases Kapha, and is heating, light, and dry. Pungent flushes all types of secretions from the body and diminishes all Kapha-like tissues such as semen, milk and fat. It improves the appetite.
Bitter - Composed mainly of Air and Space, Bitter increases Vata, decreases Pitta and Kapha, and is cooling, light and dry. Bitter purifies and dries all secretions, is anti-aphrodisiac, and tones the organism by returning all Tastes to normal balance. It amplifies appetite and restrains skin diseases and fevers. Astringent - Composed mainly of Air and Earth, Astringent (which makes your mouth pucker) increases Vata, decreases Pitta and Kapha, and is cooling, light and dry. Astringent heals, purifies and constricts all parts of the body. It reduces all secretions and is anti-aphrodisiac.
My teacher Vimalananda always maintained that it’s not what you eat but what you digest that counts. The healthiest food in the world will become for you the deadliest of poisons if you cannot digest and assimilate it properly.
Everything you eat has three opportunities to affect your organism: The effect a food has on you before digestion begins is the taste your tongue picks up from it while it is in the mouth. This effect is called Rasa, or Taste. The second effect, which is experienced during digestion, is the food’s Virya, or Energy. “Hot” food increases the body’s ability to digest, freeing energy for other metabolic tasks. “Cold” food requires extra energy for its digestion. The gut obtains this energy from the rest of the body, which must reduce its other activities as a result.
The Vipaka, or Post-Digestive Effect is that which occurs after digestion is over and the nutrients are assimilated deep within the tissues. Sweet and Salty usually produce a Sweet, satisfying, nutritive effect after being digested, a net gain for your organism. Sour usually produces a Sour effect, increasing the desire for new things to digest but neither adding to nor subtracting much from you. Bitter, Pungent and Astringent generally produce Pungency, which causes things, physical and mental, to be consumed or to flow out of you. The Bitter and Astringent Tastes reduce Pitta because their cold Taste and Energy more than compensate for the Pungency that their Post-Digestive Effect usually produces.
Lemons are Sour, Bitter and Astringent in Taste, Cold in Energy, and Sweet in Post-Digestive Effect. Being Bitter they tone the body and prevent Kapha increase, being Sour they increase digestion and appetite and relieve Vata. Their Cold Energy prevents Pitta from being disturbed, and their Sweet Post-Digestive Effect means they assist in tissue nutrition.
Salty is most effective among the Vata-controlling Tastes because it is heavy, oily and heating, and it improves digestion. Sour comes next and then Sweet. Bitter is the best Pitta-controlling Taste because it is cooling and drying.
Pungent best controls Kapha because it is heating, light and dry and it flushes secretions from the body. Bitter comes next and then Astringent.
(The psychological and emotional signatures of each taste)
The predominant attitudes and emotions associated with the Tastes are: Sweet - satisfaction, or satiation (the “sweet taste of success”). Overindulgence in Sweet leads to its negative aspects: complacency and greed. Sour - the searching outside oneself for things to possess. Sour enhances the mind’s appetite for evaluating things with a view to determining their desirability as possessions. Overindulgence in evaluation leads to envy or jealousy, which may manifest as deprecation of the thing desired, as in the “sour grapes” syndrome. Salty - zest for life, which enhances all appetites. Overindulgence in zest leads to hedonism, the craving for indulgence in all sensory pleasures that are available, just as an “old salt” or a “salty dog” will do when he enters port again after a long sea voyage.
At all times your personality tries to maintain itself in the greatest possible comfort. It seeks the satisfaction of Sweet, and will make use of any other Taste it requires to obtain it, selecting “hot” or “cold” Tastes according to its requirements. Sour, Salty and Pungent are “hot” Tastes and Sweet, Bitter and Astringent are “cold” Tastes.