YOGA AND AYYAPPA SHIRINE

The month of Vrishchika (Scorpio) heralds the beginning of pilgrimage to the hill shrine of Sabarimala where 30 million devotees visit every year.

Sabarimala is the melting point of Shivite and Vaishnavite beliefs with vestiges of Buddhist rituals. A devotee can take his trekking pilgrimage only after completing 40-day of austerities. Women in their fertile age are not admitted for this obvious reason as they cannot complete this mandatory 40-day austerity.

The trekking to this temple is with chatting of “swaamiyeeee....saranamayyapppaa...” Behind this magical mantra lies a hidden physiological truth.

Like in yogic practice inspiration (pooraka) is made easier by shouting ..swaamiyee...

A expiration (rechaka) is made by chanting saranamayyappaa...

This makes the process of expiration longer than inspiration.

In this way a devotee is able to aerate his lungs along with this 'sarana' mantra thereby giving proper oxidation to get the enough energy while climbing steep mountain to Lord Ayyappa, the blessed one of 'Kali Yug.'

THIPHALA

According to Ayurveda Thiphala can be taken without any problem for long. The modern studies on gooseberry, which is the main ingredient, has found that in a combination with Hareethaki and Vibheetaki, the potency of Thriphala is enhanced.

Gooseberry is also a reservoir of many antioxidants which has a wonderful capacity to increase the life span of individual cells by delaying the process of apoptosis. This explains the logic behind why it is used as hair tonic as well.

Many a skeptics of Ayurveda tries to see Thiphala as a mild laxative, but in reality it is much more than a laxative. One of the reasons why Thriphala is recommended for daily use is it action is not directly on the gastrointestinal tract; but by action on our higher centers of voiding. It takes more than 8 hours for good action of triphala as a laxative. This helps this herbal medicine to act on our GI tract without disturbing the flora of intestine contrary to other purgatives both herbal and chemical.

The recent discoveries has shown that constipation and blood supply to eye are related which justifies the importance of Triphala in eye disorders.

GHEE AND CHOLESTEROL

It is a wrong concept to think that ghee will increases cholesterol. On the contrary ghee has been shown to slightly reduce serum cholesterol in some studies on rats. The studies in Wistar rats have revealed one mechanism by which ghee reduces plasma LDL cholesterol. This action is mediated by an increased secretion of biliary lipids.

Most westerners never use ghee for their cusine, and they come to conclusion just looking at the fat content in ghee and say it will increase cholesterol and atherosclerosis. There are many Ayurvedic preparation which even helps one to reduce body weight, classical example is "varanadi ghrutham' which is a medicated ghee. The ghee has a negative effect only when it is rancid or over heated.

Moreover ghee has a wonderful capacity to carry medicines deep inside our tissues, the concept of 'snehapana' in ayurveda comes from that. Most of our herbal memory boosters like brahmi (bocopa monera) and shankupushpi (Convolvulus pluricaulis ) dissolve well in ghee and ghee has that ability to even enter brain passing the BBB (Blood-Brain-Barrier). Thats why old seers of India formulated Brhami Grutham (medicated ghee) for increasing the memory.

It is also proved that butter prepared in the conventional Indian way will separate only the high-density lipoproteins from the curd as the manual centrifuges are less powerful in separating all the fat contained in curd. This makes butter with minimal LDL cholesterol content (bad cholesterol). In many ayurvedic firms of Kerala ghee is prepared from conventional ways. On the contrary in mechanized centers, high-powered centrifuges are used which separates the tiniest amount of fat from curd and it contains lot of LDL cholesterol.

In cold climates ghee is even used by body to convert into energy.

RESEARCH IN AYURVEDA

A friend of mine Dr.Sankaran V.M. was an exceptionally brilliant student from Kottakkal Ayurveda College currently working in Gonobiswabidyalay University in Dhaka. The Bangla people are patriotic and love their culture, language and uniqueness. The medical College in Dhaka even have a subject called History of Medicine which gives some introduction to Ayurveda which we cannot dream in a Kerala Medical College who are the biggest critics of Ayurveda without making any attempt to learn or understand the basics of Ayurveda.

Gonobiswabidyalay was magnanimous enough to offer Dr.Sankaran do all clinical research in Ayurveda when panchakarma procedures are in progress adjacent to its Modern Medicine wing.

A couple of years back Dr.Sankaran was invited to present a paper on Ayurveda and he was shocked to see all his research work done for years were stolen by someone and the same scientific work surfaced in the name of a Health Minister of another South Asian country who sometimes claims pioneers in taking Ayurveda to the west.

I am publishing Dr.Sankaran's clinical/laboratory works on myths and mysteries hovering around honey. This is an earnest attempt to navigate into a honeybee colony (beehive) to unearth the hidden truth.