definition of Ayurveda:

hitaahitam sukham duhkham aayus tasya hitahitam, maanam ca tac ca yatrokam aayurveda sa ucyate (Charaka, 1)

Ayurveda is said to be that science where what is useful and detrimental (to health/life); the unhappy and happy (state of) life; what is good and bad for life, it’s measurement (span/length); and life itself are described. (translation, Dr. Lad.)

Welcome to the section about Ayurveda, which in Sanskrit means the study/knowledge/lore/broomset of life in all ways, shapes, and forms.

Just that is enough to make my heart go pitter-patter.

Ayurveda is a 10,000 year old of system of medicine still used in India for billions of people.

Efficacious, poetic, beautiful. Learn more about it in these pages.

The Real Definition of Yoga

Someone once said to me that yoga is the art of flexibility and so on. In the ancient texts, it actually is a very real science.

yogas’ citta vrtti nirodhah

“Yoga is the cessation of mental mindstuffs.”

(from the Yoga Sutras)

This is the real meaning of yoga and the goal of all the postures, Asana, breathing techniques (praanayaama), and meditation.

Typically, quite a lot of effort goes into that act of cessation, that ending of effort, until all is one, one, One.

Indeed, many of you know that the word yoga itself, comes from yuj, to unite, or yoke, i.e., the act of uniting.

The concept of unity is used to cancel the concept of the many; the concept of self (infinite consciousness) is used to cancel the conceptualisation of unity. [The term “unity” itself implies disparate objects. Ed.] The self can neither be conceived of as existence or non-existence, it is what is. (Vasistha’s Yoga, p. 400)

Said another way:

“Love knows that I am everything and wisdom knows that I am nothing, and between these two things, my life moves.” -Nisaragadatta Maharaj

Maharshi Mahesh Yogi had a nice interview on video where he describes yoga.

This is the meaning that I’ll use to talk about yoga, dear yoga, on this site.

I’m not a powerful yogini. I am a simple flawed vessel. But I love yoga and I hope to do it some justice here.

Cooking is the first line of Ayurveda.

Many of us know that the smallest thing ingested can cause pain or incredible delight.

The Indian cook, and every Indian grandmother, knows about the 6 tastes and the 3 doshas of Ayurveda.

These principal themes of Ayurveda are essential to yummy food, good health, and happiness.

What amazes me too about cooking is that you help someone create their experiences, whether mystical, emotional, or physical. For example, good food has sattva quality, helping people make sattvic decisions and have sattvic experiences.

Cooking then is a way to create the universe. I think it is very exciting stuff.

I hope here to present recipes, reviews of cooking materials and books, and the connections a good cook makes.

Yum (the heart seed syllable) to food!

To study Indian Astrology a good grasp of Sanskrit is a must.

-the great C. S. Patel in CVA Journal, II, 1, page 4.

Where do I begin to talk about Sanskrit?

With it being a limb of the Vedas, actually many limbs, with the language structure being not just the FORM but the CONTENT of the Vedas themselves?

With Panini writing down the consonants made by Lord Shiva dancing?

It is simply larger than me, and I do not know where to begin.

Be sure that I do not know much, but that I will present here translations such as I can make of them.

Actually, it’s important to know that translations are hyperdimensional like and of the universe itself.

Trust, and take confidence in the fact that Sanskrit is actually crystal clear once you master the basics, like the 2200 roots. Sanskrit seems EASIER THAN ANY OTHER LANGUAGE, no kidding.

Of course, at the same time, I can not do justice to Sanskrit. I am just an idiot, but I like sounds.

Jyotish comes from two Sanskrit words, jyoti, meaning light, and ishta, meaning a Divinity.

One may take one’s ishta devata or personage of Divinity to in fact be the Jyotir Vidya or knowledge of light itself.

This would not be too obscure for many theoretical physicists in our midst.

Astrologers were society’s astronomers once, and with a tweak of the lens of discrimination/definition, can still be considered so

A good pot is a beautiful thing. It is sturdy, reliable, trustworthy, able to withstand abuse and yet supports the creation of amazing things other than itself.

It is the symbol for Aquarius ruled by a lord Shani, Saturn, who represents responsibility, duty, hard work, and perseverence.

What cook doesn’t know the rewarding gleam of a pan after the cleansing ritual of washing dishes?

The pot can be used again and again, selflessly giving of itself once more to the betterment of the whole, just like a Kumbha, Aquarius. And we are all an Aquarius somewhere in our lives.

I am especially fond of Korean old style handmade pots that were hand thrown with a small intentional flaw. They indeed recall the forms of ourselves, never perfect, but perfectly so.

That actually is not the sutra, but it’s a fair translation, and it comes from Paul Valery (1871-1945).

It was my favorite quote in my 20′s. Figures I could find it in the Yoga Sutras.

Here it is:

zabda GAnaAnupati vastu zunyo vikalpaH

Conceptualization [one of the unhelpful definitions/limitations on the field of consciousness] is when you don’t have an actual object but rely upon concept in language. (I.9)

Gosh, growing up and getting educated in the 80′s all I was surrounded with was Foucault and post-modernism.

What a waste of time.

I wish that I had known that all I have to do is SEE!





Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching, Ch. 1, 400 B.C.E.

A Tao that can be tao-ed is not lasting Tao.

A name that can be named is not lasting name.

Name-less — the beginning of Heaven and Earth.

Named — the mother of all things.

So, we must be always without desires to see the mystery:

If we always have desires we will see its limits:

These two are the same; once there is out-going, then there is difference of name.

As the same they are called obscure. The obscure of the obscure is the gate of all mysteries.

Translated by P.J. Maclagan (1898)



I’ve heard that word/name/Tao is Purusha, meaning/expression/named is Prakriti, “the Mother of All Things”.

It all makes sense.