A Primer on Ayurveda
Agni - the digestive fire
Agni is the gastric fire, the altar for the sacrifice of the food to create energy and tissues. Agni is commonly called pachaka pitta. Pachaka can be translated the cooking fire, and is derived from the root PAK meaning to cook. It is said to reside in the stomach and small intestine, but also includes salivation and esophageal actions. Pitta by nature is sharp, and a proper digestive fire should be sharp. When Ayurvedic texts allude to the digestive fire, the authors of antiquity meant the he physiological functions that literally cook the food or otherwise break it down to prepare it for absorption and subsequent oxidation. The concept of agni thus includes the secretion and action of hydrochloric acid, gut enzymes, bile acids and biliary alkali on the food bolus.
There are three disorders of this fire: too weak (mandagni), associated with sluggish digestion; too sharp (tikshnagni), associated with too much acidity, creating burning and dyspepsia; and irregular (vishamagni), associated with both. The sharpness of this fire is also associated with the appetite, hence our English expression, "she has a sharp appetite." Agni's sharpness should be pacified by a meal, creating a feeling of fullness and satisfaction in the stomach.
Dhatus and Dhatu-agnis - the Seven Tissues and the Metabolic Fires
The physiology is the expression of Veda, the reservoir of pure intelligence that governs creation, and nowhere is this concept displayed as clearly as in the sequential emergence of refined dhatus (tissues) from primordial plasma. Modern biology understands that the plasma provides nutrients for a cell to function, proliferate, and differentiate. The ancient Ayurvedic treatises describe the same processes. Plasma is the gross matrix for the other more refined tissues such as majja (that which fills the bone, i.e. bone marrow, immune tissue and nervous tissue) and shukra (semen and ova), nourishing them and providing the milieu in which they can thrive. The immune system's recognition of hundreds of thousands of antigens that permits it to instantly mount an immune response, the complex executive functions of the nervous system, and the union of semen and ovum to form a new being are processes so refined they are true miracles. Ayurveda describes these phenomena as the emergence of life from Veda
The word dhatu comes from the root DHA meaning basis or foundation. The purpose of metabolism is to create proper dhatus together with the intelligence with which they carry out their role as the field of physiological activity. Dhatus are created through the action of catalysts that convert one tissue to another. In this way, progressively refined tissues are created from their grosser precursors. The catalyst for this is another type of agni, a dhatu-agni or metabolic fire.
Caraka says that because of the proper functioning of agni, the digestive fire, food is broken down into its essence, ahararasa, and the chyle or liquid portion of the food which passes across the mucous membrane of the intestine. Ahararasa is in turn transformed into rasa, the primordial plasma, by the first metabolic fire, the rasa-dhatu-agni. Think of rasa as the sap, similar to the colorless sap of a flower, that becomes all the various parts. The other dhatu-agnis sequentially catalyze rasa into all the other dhatus. The simplified schema goes like this:
| Substrate | Catalyst | Product | English equivalent |
| food | agni (pachaka pitta) | rasa | plasma (sap) |
| rasa | rasa-dhatu-agni | rakta | blood cells |
| rakta | rakta-dhatu-agni | mamsa | flesh and muscle |
| mamsa | meda-dhatu-agni | meda | adipose tissue, fat |
| meda | asthi-dhatu-agni | asthi | bone and joints |
| asthi | majja-dhatu-agni | majja | what fills bone, marrow, nerve tissue |
| majja | shukra-dhatu-agni | shukra | semen, ovum, reproductive tissue |
| shukra | lifestyle, wholeness | ojas | essence of the dhatus |
Ojas - the essence of the tissues
Ojas is the essence of the seven dhatus, the subtlest of material substances, and is created when shukra is made properly from the action of all the dhatu-agnis. It is created spontaneously from the other seven tissues as a result of proper diet, lifestyle, routines, staying rested, and spiritual practices, in other worlds, a holistic life. Ojas is responsible for physical and mental strength, radiance and beauty, immunity and well-being.
Ojas is so subtle that it does not qualify as a dhatu, yet it still has a material value, being slightly more manifest than the level of pure intelligence, Veda, from which springs the entire physiology. It has been described by Maharishi as located in the gap between consciousness and the body. Ojas has a radiant quality, and like a lamp at the door, shines inside and out, permitting frictionless communication between the two. Those outside see in; those inside out. The radiance and strength of ojas permits Veda, the source of biological intelligence, to express itself as the material body.
Srotas - Channels and cavities
Any hollow cavity or organ in the body through which matter or intelligence is transported is a srotas, according to the treatises, including blood and lymphatic vessels, the heart, intestines, cells, and microtubules within the cells. Many different kinds of srotas are described by the texts. Ultimately, keeping the srotas healthy and free of obstruction is the key to health according to Caraka. Srotas are blocked by ama (residues).
Ama - residues of inefficient digestion
The reality is that despite our best intentions, we fail to eat moderately of pure, nourishing fare. We eat too much, too heavily, toolate, when we are still digesting a previous meal, or when we are anxious, upset or rushed. The result is a weak or irregular agni and inefficient digestion with the creation of an undigested byproduct, ama. The root MA means to ripen or cook, so ama means "uncooked products of digestion." Ama is the predictable result of failing to properly maintain agni.
Ama is what we call plaque, debris, or deposits in western terminology: substances that lodge in inappropriate locations to create pathology. We lay down plaque in coronary arteries, in nerve tissue (as in multiple sclerosis) or in the tangles seen in Alzheimer's disease, as amyloid deposits in the heart muscle cells, or as the visible debris in the cytoplasm of aging cells.
There are several types of ama:
- Ama directly caused by a weak digestive fire. This ahararasa ama replaces the properly formed rasa or essential plasma, which becomes all the other dhatus (tissues), and is therefore the worst kind of ama. This ama is heavy, sticky, and slow. Once it is created, it is not easily digested by the body and it tends to mix with doshas and dhatus to create disease. Even worse, this ama further blocks the functioning of the agni, initiating a vicious cycle of ama creation.
- Ama mixed with specific doshas. Mixed with pitta, for example, ama becomes pitta-charged (samapitta), and plays a role in inflammatory diseases. Vata-charged ama (samavata) lodges in joints and nervous tissue, the seats of vata. Samakapha deposits as mucous in the head and chest.
- Ama resulting from incomplete formation of the dhatus. If the dhatu-agnis, the metabolic fires are dull, the dhatus are improperly formed, creating a structural form of ama, the tissues themselves.
- Ama lodged in the dhatus. Ama has a tendency to lodge in areas that have been weakened by trauma, inflammation or other structural problems, for example in joints that have been previously injured.
- Ama lodged in the srotas. This ama blocks the transport of materials and biological information.
- Ama created by one dosha covering another. When dosha aggravation becomes extreme, the nature of one dosha will become completely overshadowed or even hidden by another, creating ama. This type of ama needs to be eliminated by more vigorous therapy.
- Ama lodged in the dhatu-agnis. Ama can lodge in the agnis that convert one tissue to another. If ama lodges in the asthi-dhatu-agni, for example, meda (fat) will be inefficiently converted into finer tissues, will not lubricate other tissues and will remain as fat.
- Ama that loads apanavata. Ama can only be moved around the body through the action of vata. Being heavy, ama migrates to the lowest area, the pelvis and the main seat of elimination, where it creates problems such as constipation and disorders of urination, menstruation and reproduction.
Malas - the natural basis of purification
The body is able to maintain its high state of integrity and purity, according to the treatises, due to properly formed malas, waste products. These are numbered as three: purisha (stool),
meha (urine), sweda (sweat). Ayurveda places a high priority on regular elimination, because if the malas are not properly formed, diseases outside the digestive system can result.
The 13 Natural urges - requirements of the laws of nature
Ayurveda describes 13 requirements of the body that should not be suppressed if good health is to be maintained.
- passing urine
- passing stool
- seminal discharge or orgasm
- passing gas
- vomiting
- sneezing
- hiccoughing
- burping
- yawning
- hunger ( and its corollary, the impulse to not eat if hunger is not present)
- thirst (and its corollary, the impulse to not drink if thirst is not present)
- tears
- sleep (i.e. staying up doing activity at night when the need for sleep is present)
More articles
This information on "A Primer on Ayurveda" is in the "About Vedic Medicine" section of AyurvedaMed.com website. To return to the index page of this section, please click here.
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