Ayurveda, life and lessons learnt!

It came prettyly masked in a vodka shot glass, and looked no less than an expensive wine. it cant be so bad...so I boldly took a long gulp, and suddenly I felt a horrid explosion on my senses, I could feel each cell of my body loudly revolting....my tastebuds wished they would die rather than suffer such inexplicable torture, and it wasnt long before I felt I would either pass out (I was already seeing stars) or puke out the everything (including the organs) that existed below my throat!

Life was going just fine, my long vacation in India had just begun, and then out of nowhere I suddenly loose a lot of money and my passport...added to that I had an ayurvedic treatment pending. Amidst all this confusion and a ton of paperwork to do (the worst thing that can happen on a vacation) three days ago, I was put between four walls, given a glassfull of the most distasteful ghee to quaff (part of my treatment).

Life was going just fine right...and then how come all of a sudden its nothing but chaos. And why did I ever agree to have this treatment, its not like I was sick or anything. At the most I pictured having exotic massages and sipping delicious herbal tea.

Then here I am three days into my treatment, my passport and other paperwork steadily growing into a mountain, my digestive system even more screwed than before and my mind, a raging furnace, with my family being the poor victims of my unpredictable outbursts (no wonder I cannot be unleashed to the unsuspecting public)

Its one of those moments in my life when everything I touch (smell, taste, breathe,speak) is destruction, one of those moments when I wonder how 'I' of all people who meditates everyday, is a good person (at least 99%...ok 95%) cares about people and the world, could end up in such a self created MESS! Its one of those moments when I just want to disappear into anonymity.

One of those moments when I feel all the bad karma I accumulated over all my past 86,000 lifetimes has just caught up with me.

As I ponder on all this...a certain lightness envelopes me, suddenly all those thoughts in my mind that are pulling me apart in thousand different pieces disappear and I realize, that this is not the first time I have been in a situation like this, the events may be different though.

Like the time I had no place to stay while in an internship in Mumbai, or missing the train to the most important event in my life. The same panic that gripped my heart each time with an intensity of 'its all over'.

And now this lightness feels like nothing but a play of mind, without which I would have nothing to learn from, nothing to share about, and no stories to tell.

Those moments in my life are like the bitter Ayurvedic ghee that I am forced to intake, whether I digest peacefully or with a tantrum and fight...its really my choice.

One thing is for sure, I always end up feeling light and cleansed after digesting it, if I take it in the right way.

Animals and Ayurveda

I wanted to post about Ayurveda for a long time, so I decided that since the topic is so large, I'll post it in series. I always thought that Ayurveda was about alternate medicine and healing. But to my surprise, Ayurveda is a way of life. Allopathic medicine provides cure for diseases, while Ayurveda tell us how not to get those diseases in the first place. And food is categorised in three catagories, Satvic, Rajsic and Tamsic. I stumbled across this piece on the net and thought that it aptly described the 'Three gunas'.

The Elephant, The Tiger, and The Jackal

"You are what you eat." Ancient Indian texts explain Aahara, or diet, by using the example of the elephant, the tiger, and the jackal. The elephant is a vegetarian. This animal represents the sattvic mind. With Sattva, we can think clearly, and act appropriately, according to the laws of nature. The elephant is strong, gentle and intelligent. The tiger is carnivorous. He represents the rajassic mind, which is action-oriented. He kills and eats animals, which makes him fierce and aggressive. The tiger is restless, always on the prowl. The jackal represents the tamasic mind. Tamas is destructive, but this is not necessarily negative. We need to finish something, complete it, before we can move on to the next. The jackal survives by eating food left uneaten by other animals. He is fearful, cunning, and lazy. Our goal is to acquire the saatvic qualities of the elephant. One way we can do that is to favor a vegetarian diet, and eating fresh foods, beans, and almonds to to increase calmness, clarity and creativity.

*source- CoffeyTalk.com

And you can see the effect of these foods on you body and mind. So judging by the predominant activity you do, its good to eat the corresponding 'Aahara', just even the knowledge of these aspects helps us be more conscious of what we are putting into our body. And its also good to observe which of the 'Three guns' are predominant in us, and you will be surprised that its exactly the kind of food we eat, though not always, that in fact also depends on our individual 'Prakruti' and 'Dosha'. I'll save that for the next post.

Thayir Sadam

Note: this post is dedicated to my brother in the dire hope that he is graced with the ability appriciate finer things in life (meaning, he unfortunatly does not like Thayir Sadam, although he lives in Tamil Nadu)

On a hot evening, after a long day’s work, I get back home. First thing I do is scout my refrigerator for ‘something to eat’. And today, there’s nothing but a packet of curd, probably gone sour, some curry leaves on the verge of fossilising and a half cut pomegranate looking more like tiny blood shot eyeballs.Its hot and I’ve had a long day. And I need dinner.

Its one of those unfortunate days when KK’s (my room mate and a brilliant cook) gone outstation, and I haven't eaten while out on an assignment (that's how I manage dinner). Back to reality. I need ‘something to eat’. My first impulse is to walk down to ‘Raghavendra Upahar’, and pack an Idly vada, which costs 20 bucks. But the very idea of facing that mind-numbing traffic, which took me an hour to get out of today is alarming. My second impulse, ‘order a pizza’, then I remember, how much I’ve been eating out lately resulting in a bowel activities incurable by a dozen Triphala tablets.

I take another peek into the fridge, hoping that out of a miracle, my Mom’s Sambar-Sadam and Thayir-Sadam (Sambar rice, curd rice) would materialise. Tough luck! I guess its a sign that I need to fast. My mind, body and senses protest violently. And I resign to my fate. I need to cook something. What! I mean what if get food poisoning, what if I set the house on fire, ....I don't cook, I taste people’s cooking and write what went wrong with it.

I take another peek into my fridge, and empty out the contents, and am hit with a sudden epiphany. Thayir Sadam....there’s curd, I have finally mastered the art of making rice in a cooker without it exploding, and there are these pomegranate seeds. The ingredients are perfect. So the next fifteen minutes I busy myself. The rice is cooked. The tadka is ready, so is the garnish. I mix it all with rice and add the curd finally. And Viola! I am struck by an overwhelming aroma of Thayir Sadam, bringing back all the nostalgic memories of a dish that is more of a Tamil legacy. I don't remember a time when it wasn't a part of my meal. My grand mom would use the leftover rice, and add curd, making a quick snack before the next meal. I grew up in mostly in northern parts of the country, where the concept of curd rice was non-existent, I clung to this part of my Tamil identity. Thayir Sadam with Urga (pickle) or Vathaikozambu beats the world’s most exotic and gastronomic delicacies.

I take another peek into the fridge...and this time its really a miracle. In a beautiful glass dish is the sacred ‘Thayir Sadam’. As I remove it out with utmost care, the soundtrack of ‘Chariots of fire’ plays in my mind. And I know that today will go down the history as the first time I made ‘Thayir-Sadam’. I am so super impressed, maybe I could open a Thyir Sadam exclusive restaurant. We could have flavours of Thayir Sadam, pineapple, strawberry, grapes. Abhishek and Ash would visit the restaurant, and my interview would be flashed on TV as breaking news .....whoa wait!

Right now this moment is what counts. Me, My Thayir Sadam and nothing else.

Thayir Sadam Recipe

Ingredients
Rice

Fresh curd

Asafoetida

Green chilies

Coriander leaves Salt

Ingredients for seasoning

Mustard seeds Curry leaves
seeded pomegranate/ grapes

Method of Preparing Thayir Sadam
Rice is sieved, washed and boiled. Later it is cooled and mashed. In the mashed rice, milk is added and kept aside. A cooking pan is taken and white oil is heated in it. Then mustard seeds are crackled in it with curry leaves. It is tossed in oil until light golden in color. Then chopped green chilies are added. Then mix rice with curd along with asafetida and add salt to taste. Finally mix the seeded pomegranate/ grapes and garnish with coriander leaves.

Ayurvedic concepts

Its about 7 am in the morning, still unearthly in madhuriland......but I just cant resist posting!

have been pretty sick past few days, with my respiratory and digestive system screwed up (cold and stomach ache), have been taking ayurvedic treatments, these weird green gooey pastes, and am not sure if I am getting better because of the medicine or because my body is stunned by the shock treatment subjected due to the disgusting taste.

My eating habits sure have taken a toll this past month, not that it was ever brilliant. So I get to swallow ayurvedic preparation specifically tailor made so that you wont ever fall into trap of eating for 'taste'.

And I have ashram kitchen food to top off the effect, thank god for small mercies like 'canteen'.

On my check list of not to eat these were the things included by my ayurveda doc

Ice creams

chocolates

sweets

milk products

Fried stuff

I just cant bear to go on as I am on the verge of nervous breakdown!

I mean how cruel is this!

So yesterday my mom came back from Bihar, after a month, and brought specialty besen ke laddu, and I could not make her feel bad by refusing....then there were Tirupati prasadam (of course prasad is not counted as calories), and Lindt-Lindor, which Sampath got from half way around the world. And I haven't even met Goli, who's got Belgian choco's from Brussels.....

Wow..its a wonder that my digestive system hasn't collapsed. Guess that gooey ayurvedic paste actually works, even though it makes you wish you never had taste buds.

I am now a totally fan of ayurveda, next time I might actually try them with the diet restrictions.

PS: According to Ayurveda, you need to fallow a healthy daily routine called 'dinacharya' and the fact that i'm up so early and ready for meditation shows that I am on the right track to ayurvedic enlightenment!