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वर्तयन्ति प्रीणिताः सर्वदेहिनः [ | यदृते सर्वभूतानां जीवितं नावतिष्ठते||९||
Vartyanti pidhitaah sarvadehinah,yadhyte sarvbhutaanaam jivitam na-avtishthete
Ojas keeps all living beings nourished and refreshed. There can be no life without Ojas.
Ojas is a quantifiable liquid in the body, responsible for overall health, energy, and liveliness. It is both a mental and physical factor, the essence of all the body tissues.
Charaka Samhita 30:9
Ojas - true strength
According to ayurvedic theory, the completion of digestion of nutrients which nourishes the dhatus (tissues) culminates in ojas—the most refined substance in the body. As Vasant Lad states, “the end product of digestion at a cellular or tissue level is ojas”. This bi-product of nutrition according to Joshi, “supports the intimate oneness with all of life”.
Derived from the Sanskrit root ubja, the word oja means strength. It is related to kapha dosha (earth and water elements) which supports structure, moisture and cohesion in the body. Ojas is specifically related to kapha’s subdosha avalambaka kapha which supports the fluid quality in both the lungs and the heart, providing the necessary lubrication to assist the exchange of oxygen into the blood. It takes on a protective function to the microscopic alveoli (air sacs) responsible for this gaseous exchange into blood.
This subdosha is also connected with loving and compassionate feelings along with heavy feelings like sadness and grief. Every emotion has a physiological effect. The quality and depth of the breath is affected by the emotional states felt in the heart and this permeates our being.
Vasant Lad distinguishes para ojas that sit in the heart from apara ojas which are circulated through the blood and supports stability, nourishment, immunity and overall vitality. Like kapha, they have the following qualities—heavy, cold, soft, smooth, viscous, sweet, stable, clear, slimy and unctuous.
Rasa -
extracting the essential juice
Rasa in Sanskrit means sap, essence and juice. It is also the name of the first dhatu represented in the body by the plasma and once entering the lymphatic system becomes lymph. It is as Vasant Lad states the “juice of all life— from the amoeba to the human being”. The white blood cells contained in lymph serve as our protective immune response.
The lymph nodes filter this fluid from impurities, and it re-enters the bloodstream forming rakta dhatu which nourishes mamsa (muscle) through the network of blood vessels that allow the exchange of oxygen, glucose etc. Following muscle, adipose tissue and fat (meda) provide stability and lubrication facilitating movement and the production of hormones. Bone and cartilage (asthi) are then nourished with mineral support. Nerve tissue and bone marrow (majja) create the structure for communication of sensory stimuli supporting clear perception. Finally, the reproductive tissue (shukra/artava) is nourished to support our dynamic, creative potential.
The ancient text Charaka Samhita makes the direct comparison of ojas to ghee, the clarified fat derived from cow’s milk. The sanctity of the cow as a symbol for the nurturing, life-giving force is shared through her milk. With the application of a warm sustained heat, which in our own system is represented by agni, the essence can be extracted and utilized to promote strength, vigor— ojas. As far back as the Rigveda, it is instructed to take great care of cows.
Ojas are also compared to honey. For every drop of honey, a bee had to visit 200 flowers. The pollen which is extracted and digested by the bee is the shukra of the flowering plant. This natural intelligence which has the tendency to extract and cultivate the most refined substance to sustain life is evident everywhere in nature and within the body through our own digestive process.
Raja Ravi Varma, Sacred Cow, 1890
The demon with sword states, "O human beings, watch the meat eaters in Kali yuga".
The man in the front of the cow with raised hands states, "please don't kill, the cow is the life source for everyone".
The demon with sword states, "O human beings, watch the meat eaters in Kali yuga".
The man in the front of the cow with raised hands states, "please don't kill, the cow is the life source for everyone".
“Oh Cows! With your milk and ghee you make the physically weak strong, and nurture the sick to health”. (Atharvana Veda 4-21-11)
Love, awareness and ojas
Vasant Lad states that, “mobility and stability go together in para ojas. There is freedom and freedom is love, freedom is awareness. Therefore, awareness is love.”
While discussing the abstract theme of love might be better suited to the poets, ayurveda has a poetic quality in how it weaves the physical with the emotional and spiritual. Ojas, as the culmination of nourishment, provides the strength to seek that which opens up awareness.
The English word heart is derived from Latin cor which points to our core/center. Ojas resides in this core. Everything that is taken in is as Vasant Lad states, “transformed, cooked, digested, and translated into meaning. Meaning is feeling. The word “love” creates certain feelings in one’s heart. Love cannot be described but pure essence of love can be felt. If you say that anything that cannot be described does not exist, that means you have lost feeling.”
Kapha’s finer qualities (soft, smooth, sweet) are synonymous with love. It is interesting to note that the Sanskrit word for oil, sneha is also the word for love and attachment. Snehana is the process of massaging the body with oil which is a therapeutic and healing practice for those with signs of debility. Fat in the body also has this loving, lubricating function, but in excess manifests as kapha’s obstructing qualities (sticky, heavy, slimy, cold) known in ayurveda as ama. This ama clogs those vital channels (srotas), creating sluggishness and lethargy. It has a numbing effect which is the loss of feeling.
Ama is undigested food and also undigested emotions. Unresolved feelings as Lad states get stored in the connective tissue causing stress and burning ojas. Somatic practitioners often repeat the phrase ‘our issues are in our tissues’ and developing movement practices that start to free up space in the body release deep-seated tensions rooted in suppressed emotion.
The real quest lies in facing them. Lad likens the subconscious to a black hole where rejected emotions and experiences go but remain unprocessed. This emotional ama creates blockages and restricts the ability to love freely. Bravery is an emotion connected to the heart and needed to process that which is difficult. The Irish poet William Butler Yeats stated “man needs reckless courage to descend into the abyss of himself”. Venturing into those dark waters seeds an awareness of human suffering. We are modeled this through brave leaders like Mahatma Gandhi who observed "a coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave."
The Charaka Samhita notes that ojas is the first substance created in the body hinting to our purest unadulterated nature. While alive, ojas is present to some extent. The loving and innocent nature of a child transforms through experience into an adult with more knowledge and awareness. There is always still a hint of this child-like state that preserves the ability to love freely. Ojas, the essence of our nature that remains in the heart, provides strength to face harsh realities, awarding intelligence as we flow through experience and extract the deeper truths.
More questions to explore:
Can you sense ojas within your body? Do you sense its presence in the heart? Does an image, symbol or person come to mind?
Does the ayurvedic tissue nourishment theory change the way you think about what you consume? Which foods feel the most nourishing/satisfying?
Based on your experiences, what encourages the production of ojas and what depletes them? What childhood memories do you associate with ojas?
What does the word strength mean to you? Which experiences and/or activities demand strength?
When have you felt the most vital and refreshed? What were the contributing factors?
Sources
Charak Samhita. (2021, October 21). Adhyaya(chapters). Charak Samhita. https://www.carakasamhitaonline.com/mediawiki-1.32.1/index.php/Chapters(Hindi)
Joshi, S.V. (1998). Ayurveda And Panchakarma: The Science of Healing and Rejuvenation. Motilal Banarsidass Publisher.
Lad, V. (2002). Textbook of ayurveda. Ayurvedic Press.
Svoboda, R. E. (1998). Prakriti. Lotus Press.
Edvard Munch, The Heart, 1898
“I do not believe in the art which is not the compulsive result of man’s urge to open his heart.”
The Cowardly Lion from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (Baum, 1900). After realizing his heart states, "I am content in knowing I am as brave as any best that ever lived, if not braver.".