The Plant Medicine Summit What is Prana?: Understanding the Concept of Life Force in Ayurveda and its Relationship to Medicinal Plants Vasant Lad Welcome to everyone. This is David Crow, your host of The Plant Medicine Summit, where we are exploring the many diverse uses of medicinal plants around the world for healing body, mind, spirit, families, communities and the earth. In this segment, I am very pleased and very honored to meet a gentleman who has made truly significant historical contributions to the field of natural medicine in general and specifically to the field of bringing Ayurveda to the West. Dr. Vasant Lad is an Ayurvedic physician who graduated with a Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery from the University of Pune in India in 1968 and received a Master of Ayurvedic Science in 1980 from the Tilak Ayurved Mahavidyalaya, also in Pune. Dr. Lad brings a wealth of classroom and practical experience to the United States. A native of India, he served for three years as Medical Director of the Ayurveda Hospital in Pune and was Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Pune University College of Ayurvedic Medicine where he was an instructor for more than a decade. Dr. Lad's training includes the study of allopathic medicine and surgery. He founded the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1984, and currently is its Director and Principal Instructor. Dr. Lad is the author of many books and is respected throughout the world for his knowledge and teaching of Ayurveda. Dr. Lad, welcome. Thank you. It's such a great honor to have you on our program here. Thank you especially for addressing a very big topic that was something that I suggested purely out of selfish interest to learn from you, and I know that this something that everybody will gain from tremendously and that is the subject of Prana, the concept of life force in Ayurvedic medicine. I know that there are many, many things that you could share with us about this because I know that Prana is fundamental to medicine, to our sense organ functioning, to our organ systems, to our health and to disease and that Prana is also in the medicinal plants. It is the Prana that gives the plants their therapeutic benefits, and it's the Prana that you are listening to when you are diagnosing the pulse and so many different things. I would like to just open it up and turn it over to you to start us off and to give us a general overview and introduction to let people know about this very important aspect of Ayurvedic medicine. Vasant Lad March 20, 2017 p. 1
[0:04:51] Correct. As you put it beautifully that every Ayurvedic physician uses Prana as a diagnostic tool, either through reading the pulse or through auscultation of the heart, lungs and intestine. Ayurveda is an Upaveda. It came from Rigveda and Atharvaveda. The whole entire Vedic system of medicine talks a great deal of relationship of the Prana with our food, Prana with our diet, lifestyle, and Prana with our herbal remedies, herbal medicine. The Prana is a life force. Prana is the life energy, and it is a cosmic energy present in every living being. [Chanting] All creation, sustenance and destruction is governed by this cosmic energy force. [Chanting] Mata Ishvara Prana is a cosmic Prana, then Ambar Piyusha Prana, which is the Prana present in the breath, and Nabhista Pranapavanaha, Nabhi means bellybutton. There is a Prana which is the aspect of Samana and it does digestion, absorption, assimilation, and transformation of food into microchyle. All these are the functions of Prana. Prana originates from the sun, and sunlight is reflected through the moon. Therefore, sunlight is a solar energy, moonlight is a lunar energy, and then there is the plant. If we look at the plant, leaf, one side of the leaf is facing the sky that is shiny. That is solar energy of the plant. The down, the rough part, which is facing the earth, is the lunar energy as if during daytime the herbs give oxygen to the universe, and during nighttime they give carbon dioxide to the universe. Plants are breathing Prana. All human beings are breathing Prana. In Ayurveda, there are different types of Prana: Prana, Vyana, Udana, Samana, Apana. Prana, which is present in the brain, governs higher cerebral activity of thinking, comprehension, appreciation, knowledge, learning. All that intellectual function of consciousness is governed by Prana in the brain that is called Murdhi Prana. Prana in the throat is responsible for speech. That is called Udana. Prana in the diaphragm which moves up and down for respiration is a part of Udana. But the Prana which is present in the cardiovascular system according to Ayurveda and that Prana runs with the blood, plasma, serum throughout the body, therefore at cellular level. Every cell has ojas, the immune function. Every single cell has a tejas, the metabolic activity and the cellular intelligent tejas. The flow of intelligent is Prana because Prana is a force of communication between two cells. That Prana is Vyana. Prana at the bellybutton is Samana which is creation, which is responsible for creation of hunger, appetite first then ingestion of food, digestion of food, transformation of food and food becomes microchyle ahar rasa, the precursors of all bodily tissue. That's why Prana through the food, through the blood, goes to every single cell and maintain the life activity. Ambar Piyusha Prana is the breath. Mata Ishvara Prana is a cosmic Prana. Nabhista Prana is Samana. And Murdhista Prana is a great thinker. Vasant Lad March 20, 2017 p. 2
[0:09:50] There are 72,000 Nadis in the body: Ida, Pingala, and Sushumna. The right breath cycle is connected to the right sympathetic trunk which is Pingala Nadi that governs the left hemisphere of the brain. Ida is the left breath cycle which is the left sympathetic and parasympathetic trunk. That is Ida Nadi that is connected to the right brain. Ida and Pingala, they are constantly changing their breath pattern. That is why Prana is stimulating solar energy through Pingala and Prana is stimulating lunar energy through Ida, and that way vata, pitta, kapha are constantly operating in the body as the three organizations. The central Nadi is Sushumna, that is awakening of Kundalini right from Muladhara to Sahasrara. So according to Ayurveda, Sattva, Atma, Sharira Trayam Etat Tridandawat; Sattva is the mind, Atma is a conscious principle, and Sharira is the physical body. This trinity of life is concurrently inherently whole together by Prana. Prana is a vital force. Prana is a vital life. In the plant, in Ayurveda, they are using many plants -- creepers, lata, roots, stems, even flowers and pollens and seeds. All these different parts of the plant are different levels of concentration of Prana. There is a rich Prana in the leaves. In some plants, there is a rich Prana in their root and in the other plants, there is a rich Prana in their flower, the flower essence. The herb act through Rasa, Virya, Vipaka and Prabhava. Rasa is the taste. The moment we put the herbal substance on the tongue, the first experience is the taste, and taste is nothing but Pranic vibration, are the taste buds, and therefore there are six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent, astringent. Each taste has affinity to the different parts of the body. For example, sweet taste has affinity to the thyroid gland, and thyroid gland regulates carbohydrate metabolism. Sweet taste also has affinity to Rasa Dhatu. That's why sweet taste maintains blood sugar. Sour taste has affinity to the lungs. That is why whenever a person has cold, congestion, cough, they should not each sour fruits, citrus fruit because that will increase more pulmonary congestion. This is the affinity of sour taste to the lungs. Pungent taste to the heart and the stomach. The moment we eat cayenne pepper, curry pepper, chili pepper, it stimulates heart, it stimulates stomach, it stimulates diaphragm. People get hiccup, sweating, palpitation and hunger. These are the affinity of the taste via mediation of Prana into the different organs. Bitter taste has affinity to the liver, gall bladder, pancreas and spleen. Pancreas regulates the sugar with the bitter taste. If we take bitter melon, bitter gourd juice early in the morning, it will balance our blood sugar because bitter burns the sweet, the sugar. Finally, salty taste has affinity to the kidney, and too much salty taste will inhibit the glutamatal threshold. That is why affinity of salt is towards kidney. Finally, colon, the lower gut, astringent taste has affinity to the colon. All these different tastes, they have action but the action of the plant through the taste happens via mediation of Prana. Second is Virya, the energy, heating and cooling. That is also Vasant Lad March 20, 2017 p. 3
effect on the lunar energy Ida and effect on the pranic energy, solar energy Pingala. Virya is energy, heating and cooling. Vipaka is post-digestive effect; that is, after the digestion of the plant. The effect on the excretory, urine, feces and sweat, that is Vipaka. That is also happening via mediation of Prana. But most important finally Prabhava. There is a direct action, specific action of the plant on the pranic energy, pranic force. That's why Ayurveda says Prana plays a very important role in our biology. After all, active principle of herbs is the Prana. [Chanting] I like to quote one of the great Sutra from Srimad Bhagavatam. [Chanting] Oh, Prana, because of you, my unspoken word becomes spoken. Oh, Prana, because of you my sensory system and motor action happens in my body. Oh Prana, because of you my hands are moving, my legs are walking. [Chanting] Oh, Prana, I salute to thee. You are the divine Purusha. You are the divine consciousness. Thank you for being present in my body to maintain the life and integration between body, mind and consciousness. [0:15:22] Beautiful. Thank you. How can we all learn to perceive Prana more directly? I know that in Ayurvedic training that there are some specific things that students are taught as far as diagnosis, of the different kinds of pranic disorders, and you have introduced the five major Pranas of the body system. But for everybody else who may or may not know anything about Ayurvedic medicine or some of the counterparts in Chinese medicine, how can we start to perceive Prana inside of us and outside of us? Yes. First expression of Prana is respiration. Breathing in, breathing out. Inhalation is Prana. Exhalation is Udan or Apana. Pana means to drink. Apana means to eliminate. Just look at the breathing pattern. If breathing is strenuous, breathlessness, undue awareness of respiratory distress, that means Prana is disturbed. Then feel your heartbeat. The heart is pumping and beating rhythmically lub, dub, lub, dub, lub, dub. But suddenly some lub dubs are missing. This is a splitting of the first heart sound. This is the splitting of the second heart sound and a person can experience palpitation, irregular heartbeat, that means Prana is out of order. And then feel the pulse. Uplift given to the palpating finger is a cardiac output that is Prana. When pulse sinks or finger sinks into the pulse, that is Apana. When we uplift given to the palpating finger is the volume of the pulse that corresponds to the amount of blur, plasma, serum is pushed out from the heart by Prana. During inhalation, if the uplift is sunken, that means there is some cardiopulmonary apparatuses out of order. That is a lack of Prana. Plus, Prana is memory. If the person has lack of memory or memory relapse, that means Prana is blocked. So many things and Prana is your eyesight. If eyesight focused properly but if eyes are restless, there is a restless eye syndrome, that means Prana is affected. Person has insomnia. So many simple, simple fact on clinical ground we can use in order to detect the pranic disorders. Vasant Lad March 20, 2017 p. 4
[0:20:51] Wonderful. Now, I know that in the Ayurvedic teachings that the references to Prana go back historically to many of the spiritual scriptures, and you have shared with us some of those already. I am wondering why should people know about Prana from a spiritual standpoint? What are some of the spiritual dimensions of Prana that can help us in our spiritual progress? The Prana and Mana are concurrent and inherent. They are the two sides of the same coin, Prana and Mana. Mana is the mind. For a spiritual point of view, yogis perform gentle deep breathing Pranayama. By doing Pranayama, we can control our mind, we can control our thought, we can control our emotions and feelings. That is the power because Pranalaya, laya means control, leads to Manolaya, laya means control. That is one thing. They can control the Prana through mantra. If you chant a mantra repeatedly with the concentration, slowly, slowly mind is focused on single simple line of mantra and that will also control the Prana. When Prana is controlled, mind is controlled, then awareness becomes light. You can see the purple light beneath the eyes. That light is your life. That light is your consciousness. You are the light. There is a flame of awareness. There is a flame of consciousness behind the brain, in the third ventricle of the brain, and that wick, that light. Without wick, without fuel, it is a smokeless flame of awareness that is yielded by concentration of the Prana and Mana. That is why Prana and mind, they are absolutely important in spiritual upbringing. The guru, when you initiate the disciple, the guru whisper mantra in the right ear and according to the individuals, disciples, Prakriti, Vikriti, guru gives special kind of Pranayama. If Prana Yama with the mantra is done like a Gayatri Pranayama [Chanting], these words during inhalation. When you hold the breath into the belly, then second part of the Gayatri mantra [Chanting], this whole phrase should be chanted during retention of the breath called Kumbhaka and during Rechaka [Chanting]. This is one example that during inhalation, there is one phase of mantra. During retention, the second phase of mantra and during exhalation, third phase of mantra. In spiritual awakening, in spiritual discipline, the disciple starts how to control mind, how to control Prana. Through Pranayama and mantra and when Prana and mind are controlled, then awareness become light. That is called Jyotirlinga, the body of light. Wonderful. Well, speaking of the body of light, I'm reminded that there is the system in Ayurveda that describes the human being as having five bodies or five layers or five sheaths. Kosha. Vasant Lad March 20, 2017 p. 5
[0:24:59] The five Koshas. One of those is the Prana body. Can you tell us about what the Prana body is, and how it might become disturbed, and how we might be able to take care of it further? Very beautiful question. Prana body is the etheric body. It is the bridge between physical body and mental body. In that etheric body, there is an etheric vibration, the pranic vibration. We carry past life Samskara, past life tendency, past life hidden memories in that pranic body. And that memory of the past life is yielded into our consciousness but we do not know. What we are today is the product of past. Annamaya Kosha, Pranamaya Kosha, Manomaya Kosha. Anna means food, the food sheath, the body of the food. Next to the body of the food is Pranamaya Kosha, the body of Prana which is etheric body. That etheric body is a bridge between mental body and physical body. That is why by doing Pranayama, we can clean the physical body, we can clean the pranic body, and we can bring beautiful order in the mental body. Then comes astral and causal body and subtle bodies so that once we clean as we have chakra system in the physical body, similarly there is a special energy level of chakra system in pranic body, Muladhara to Sahasrara. All these chakra system is located in that etheric body which is Prana body. In Prana body, we carry past life Samskara. That is why yogic discipline is so profound. By doing Pranayama, by doing meditation, we wipe out all past life Samskara, then the glass of the mind becomes clear and we can see beyond the mind. Beautiful. What do we see when we see beyond the mind? Beyond the mind, you see that there is a river of light springing from the Muladhara. It is moving up spirally. There is a river of light, the fountain of light, and that is passing through the marble of light. At third eye, it becomes like a laser beam light Rishikesha. Kesha means hair. The hair thin light and that light springs up and goes to the brain. If you look up at the central part of the brain, then every neuron shines like billions of galaxies, then you will realize that your brain is the map of the universe. You are the world and the world is you. I am the world and world is me. This profound experience happens, then you are no more individual. You become indivisible. Beautiful. Well, if you don't mind, I would like to change the topic from the light to the dark and to hear your personal impression about some of the things that are happening in the world now that are very disturbing, that everybody is having to metabolize, to digest mentally and emotionally and perhaps you could translate some of these things that we are seeing in terms of what is happening to the Prana? What is happening to the Prana of the weather? What is happening to the Prana of the food chain with things like the Prana of GMOs? What is happening to the Prana of our consciousness from the Prana of the Vasant Lad March 20, 2017 p. 6
media and the Prana of the politicians? How can we learn to understand the world that we are living in now in terms of the Pranic viewpoint? [0:29:59] Very beautiful dynamic question. The Prana of the politician, the Prana of the media, the Prana of the food, the Prana of the global consciousness and Prana through GMO, it is all connected to the individual Prana because I am the world and world is me. If there is division in me, there is division in the outer world. Nobody can change the outer world. Many, many came and they couldn't change the world. We have to change. That's why even one person follows pranic life, does regular Pranayama, meditation, does eat organic food, not to continue GMO and not to discuss politics because politics all over the world is very divisive, destructive. That is why we have we have to change. We have to look within and we have to bring harmony in our daily operating Prana. Then when one person becomes enlightened, then in his neighborhood, ten people will get the vibration of enlightenment. That is a magnetic energy because to change the world is very difficult, to change the media is very difficult. Let them operate their way. Let political think according to their way. We should be firm and confirm with our Prana. We should do regular meditation, spiritual practice. We have to grow our own food. We have to grow our own milk. That way, we can bring radical change. We can show to the world the classical example of changing the Prana. And when 10% of the population of the world doing Pranayama meditation, the whole world peace will be established. Wonderful, thank you. As you were talking about the agricultural side of things briefly, it reminded me that there is a very ancient Vedic practice for the plants and for the elements of the earth, Agnihotra. I know that this is specifically for helping to balance the Prana of the world and to take care of the soil and the water. It apparently has produced wonderful miraculous effects in agriculture. Can you tell us a little bit about Agnihotra, and how it might work at the level of Prana? You are a beautiful dynamic, very spiritual person. That's why these wonderful questions come through your heart. Our ancient Rishis, they were highly enlightened master, and they knew that in the near future there will be pollution of the consciousness, sound pollution, pollution of the atmosphere, pollution of the earth, pollution of the plant. They discovered Agnihotra. In Agnihotra, they used cow dung. Cow is the most sacred animal, and cow dung has many healing properties, cow's urine, cow dung, cow's milk, cow's ghee. They used whole grain rice. Yajna Kunda is like inverted pyramid. In that central part, they put the cow dung, apply the ghee and put camphor and lit that cow dung and cow dung catches fire. When fire is growing, they put ghee. And then there is a morning Agnihotra. [Chanting] Vasant Lad March 20, 2017 p. 7
Because cosmic energy, the pranic energy comes from the sun, the Surya. So when we mix one teaspoon of ghee and half a teaspoon of whole grain and offer to that fire and chant this mantra, then ghee is burning, cow dung is burning, then that rice is burning. If you look at the rice, whole grain rice under high power microscope, it looks like a galaxy. It is a cosmic Prana. Symbolically, that rice is Prana, ghee is ojas and agni is tejas. When these three things mush together in a cow dung, then that special smoke comes. It does cleansing of the atmosphere. They have done that experiment in agar-agar media, with streptococci, staphylococci, pneumococci. But in the room where they were performing Agnihotra, Agnihotra has bactericidal, bacteriostatic action. The bacteria did not grow there. That is a wonderful purification of atmosphere and that Vibhuti, the burned ash of the cow dung, ghee and the rice, that is called Vibhuti. Vibhuti means gentleman. Vibhuti means holy man. That Vibhuti is sprinkled to the plant, sprinkled to the soil and amazing, it removed the toxicity of the soil. It absorbed heavy metals, arsenic, mercury and all other. So that way Agnihotra should be done in the morning at sunrise and in the evening at sunset. If we do Agnihotra in every house, morning and evening, it will bring global healing, it will bring cosmic healing, and it will definitely bring rich Prana on the surface of the earth. Our earth will be heaven. Our earth will be bliss. Beautiful. One last question unfortunately because our time is so short. For people in general who may not know about Ayurvedic medicine or know much about plant medicine overall, are there a few herbs that you can recommend that would be best for a general audience to think about using to support their Prana in different ways? Oh, wonderful. Thank you, sir. Because many people do not know Ayurveda. Ayurveda just came to America last 20, 25 years and people are slowly, slowly aware. But the Ayurvedic herbs are very important. Some of these herbs are available. One of them is Brahmi, Centella asiatica, or monnieri, it doesn't matter, they have the same genes. Brahmi is good for cerebral intelligence. It is good for memory, concentration, and learning ability so that person will never get Alzheimer's. Brahmi can be taken in the tea form or with the ghee. Second good herb is Ashwagandha, Withania somnifera. This Ashwagandha is a good nervine tonic. It is good for neuromascular problem, fibromyalgia, fibromyositis. These herbs are very effective. Pipli, Piper longum is a wonderful bronchodilator. People who have respiratory allergy, they should take Pipli one teaspoon or quarter of a teaspoon with a teaspoon of ghee early morning. These herbs are very important for taking care of respiratory passage. Cold, congestion, cough and allergy can be controlled by Pipli. Sexual disability, muscle dystrophy and nervine tonic, Ashwagandha is very good. Brahmi is good for memory, intelligence, and learning ability. Many children have attention deficit, hyperactivity disorders, Brahmi will be very effective tonic to their brain. Vasant Lad March 20, 2017 p. 8
[0:35:00] Thank you. Well, our time has run out, unfortunately. It's such a great pleasure to talk with you. I'd like to tell everybody about your website. I imagine that a great number of people already know about your work, about the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque. But for those who are not familiar, I would like to give the website address which is ayurveda.com. It's as easy as it gets, ayurveda.com. At that website, there is a wealth of information and access to Dr. Lad. With that, Dr. Lad, I would like to turn it back to you to give us some final thoughts and insights as we close things up here. The final insight is love yourself as you are. Practice momentum and passive awareness. Love everyone. See God in every plant, tree, mountain and human being, then you will unfold God within you; that God is light, that God is Prana, that God is beauty. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for joining us and taking time from your very busy schedule. On behalf of everybody listening, I would just like to thank you personally, Dr. Lad, for -- Thank you, David. It's such a great honor. -- everything that you have done, bringing Ayurveda and all of your knowledge and wisdom and sharing it so generously with everybody in our culture and all the healing work that you have done. So thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you. For everybody listening, thank you for joining us. Join us again for another segment of the Plant Medicine Summit. 2017 The Shift Network. All rights reserved. Vasant Lad March 20, 2017 p. 9