I had a great time at the International Astrology Conference in Denver today. Hundreds of people were there. It was about twice as big as last year’s Ayurveda Conference (but who is counting.)

It is the first conference I’ve ever been to that had room on the name tag for Ascendant, Moon, and Sun signs.

It’s going on through Wednesday for those of you in the area. I heartily recommend jumpling on the bus and checking it out.

I met THE Edith Hamilton, who agreed with me on the 2008 Presidential Election, by the way, and lots of other famous-y people, and I think (I hope) I made some salient points at their wonderful presentations.

Dr. Frawley gave a very strong lecture on nakshatras.

If you are interested in Vedic Astrology, get the track 8 Vedic Astrology track recordings here. They show the best of what is happening now, what is publicly accesible knowledge on amazing topics, in real time.

I also totally dug some of the jewelry. If I had the $500 some of the peices cost I would totally Madame Trelawney myself up.

Really, energy and creativity were very high at this year’s conference. I had a great time.

There was even a fun article from the Associated press on the conference.

They somehow didn’t interview me about my prediction of Al Gore for Vice President.

candre taara-vyuuha-jnaanam ( Yoga Sutras, III.27)


On the moon – knowledge of the organization of the stars

This one has everything to do with astrology obviously.

I love this sutra’s clarity of construction and its fruits. Dharana, dhyaana, andsamadhi on the MOON gives you knowledge of the organization of the STARS.

That is how the ancient seers knew such advanced astrology and highlights the importance of the Moon in it. (For example, the nakshatra (lunar mansion) of the Moon determines your starting place in the Vimshottari dasha system and much else.)

Our next sutra related will be on how to have knowledge of the worlds.

From Louise:

This information is for informational purposes only. Consult your health practitioner if you need health advice.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa, Zingi beracea) is an anti-bacterial, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant. In Sanskrit it is Haridra.

For strains, bruises, itching, or swelling, 1/2 teaspoon and a pinch of salt are used for external application to the area.

One cup warm milk and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder and a pinch of saffron or alum added is used as a healing drink and pain reliever.

For boils, equal parts ginger powder and turmeric (1/2 teaspoon of each) are mixed with water to make a paste and applied. The boil will come to a head.

Acne is said to be helped by equal parts turmeric and sandalwood with water added to make a paste.

For burns, a paste of fresh aloe vera gel and a pinch of turmeric is used, or ghee or coconut oil is applied.

For sore throat, one gargles a mix of one cup hot water with 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Gargle morning and evening or drink 1 cup hot milk boiled with 1/2 teaspoon turmeric.

For sores and wounds, its anti-bacterial quality helps prevent infections. Mix turmeric powder with some coconut oil or aloe vera.

You can use this on your pets too.

For cuts, cover with turmeric, then tape or gauze.

For bites and stings, apply turmeric and sandalwood paste.

To keep ants out of your home: make a line of turmeric powder outside your doors.

Turmeric is also used as a culinary spice and in religious ceremonies, as well as a textile dye.

Put a bit of turmeric on the meat cooking so that it will be digested easier.

It is a good source of B6, dietary fiber, and potassium, as well as an excellent source of iron and manganese.

Doshic effect:

Vaata, Pitta, Kapha decreasing, Pitta and Vaata increasing in excess.

This is only touching on the surface of what Turmeric might be capable of helping to heal.

Scientific studies are showing that it might help major illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, Cystic Fibrosis and arthritis.

Jill Bolte-Taylor gives a wonderful talk as a neuroscientist on her own personal awakening, unfortunately as the result of a stroke, but still very compelling, expansive, and ultimately yogically encouraging.

Pleased with myself and my poha, I told my guests yesterday, “Thank you for coming. Without eaters there would be no food.”  (It would just be stuff on a plate, otherwise.)

My friend piped back, “Without food there would be no eaters.”

Ah, the elegant dance of life.

Talk about Pitta reducing! (The sweet and rose tastes and the prabhav of lime all reduce pitta.)

Perfect for summer.

Rose Limeade
1 quart filtered water
2-3 freshly squeezed limes
1 cup rose water (can be found in Indian stores)
Agave to taste
Mix.

This was courtesy of our friends at Peaceful Meadow Retreat.

the word for syllable in sanskrit is

akSara mfn. imperishable ; unalterable ; m. a sword L. ; S3iva L. ; Vishn2u L. ; (%{A}) f. see %{a4kSarA} below ; (%{am}) n. a syllable ; the syllable %{om} Mn. ; a letter [m. Ra1matUp.] ; a vowel ; a sound ; a word ; N. of Brahma ; final beatitude religious austerity , sacrifice L. ; water RV. i , 34 , 4 and i , 164 , 42 [3,3] ; Achyranthes Aspera.

I love that. Imperishable.

Here is the map of the syllables on the human body. If you are very still as you vocalize, you can feel them in the part of the body. This also has meaning in Ayurveda. To connect with a certain body part you may chant the seed syllable.

source unknown

There are a lot of deeper meanings here as well, of Agni and Soma, of the chakras, the five elements and more.

In Ayurvedic school, after giving a clinical assessment of a patient, I was told by Dr. Lad to drink more milk. Surprised, I said “I’ll try.”

My good friend, who is a far more advanced yogini than I am, said “Don’t try. Do.”

It took me awhile, but now I think I get it.

My understanding finally coalesced after reading a quote by Osho:

All the Buddhas of all the ages have been telling you a very simple fact:

Be – don’t try to become.

Within these two words, be and becoming, your whole life is contained.

Being is enlightenment, becoming is ignorance.

Brilliant.

Don’t try. Do.

Herein is the meaning of sankalpa.

definition:

AyuH (in comp. for %{Ayus} below).

Ayus n. life , vital power , vigour , health , duration of life , long life RV. AV. TS. S3Br. Mn. MBh. Pan5cat. &c. ; active power , efficacy RV. VS. ; the totality of living beings [food Sa1y.] RV. ii , 38 , 5 and vii , 90 , 6 ; N. of a particular ceremony (= %{AyuH-SToma} q.v.) ; N. of a Sa1man ; of the eighth lunar mansion ; food L. ; (%{us}) m. the son of Puru1ravas and Urvas3i1 (cf. %{Ayu}) MBh. Vikr. VP. ; [cf. Dor. $ ; perhaps also $.]

shariirendriya sattvaatma samyogo dhari jivitam, nityagash caanubandhash ca paryaayair aayur ucyate (Charaka, 1)

The term aayuhuh expresses the combination/conjunction of the physical body, the sense organs, the mind and the Self and is described by the synonyms: dhaari, jiivitam, nityagahah, and anubandhahah. (Translation, Dr. Lad)

Finally, a real definition of life. What is life anyway? Here it is.

• the physical body
• the sense organs
• the mind
• the Self

Can you think of anything missing?

Here it is, pre-dating “I think therefore I am” by millenia.

The word aayuhuh or AyuH is where the “ayur” in Ayurveda, the study of life, and this web site name comes from.

(The ending change has to do with sandhi.)

When I first entered Ayurvedic school, I was so careful with my body, with my diet, with my (physical) yoga.

I was hypersensitive to everything and didn’t really know what was happening to me when I felt this or that. Yet I knew the basic niyamas of the Yoga Sutras, I knew that I was doing good things with my body and deep self. I knew I was getting closer though still at a distance to some notion of perfect.

Then I walked into an astrology classroom and saw an advanced student of Hart’s whom I greatly admired drinking a Coca-Cola.

A Coca-Cola!

I hadn’t even seen one in months. The thought of it, of drinking it myself, was akin to swallowing poison.

How could this be? I seriously was stunned and in a slight haze of confusion for the next six months or so over that one act of witnessing.

Eventually I could not only relate but understand.

(gItA, 3 – 6):

karmendriyANi samyamya ya Aste manasA smaran /
indriyArthAn vimUDhAtmA mithyAcAras-sa ucyate //
The one of deluded understanding
who, restraining the organs of action,
sits thinking in his mind of the sense objects,
is called a hypocrite.

After studying astrology more in depth and doing hundreds of charts, I too started to relax my superficial codes of conduct but not my love of yoga. If anything, my understanding of yoga grew correspondingly to an order of magnitude beyond anything I knew when I was acting the part but was mentally far away.

Now, I even have a name for this phenomenon. I call it:

the paradox of partial omniscience.

Astrology allowed for me a route to the truth that was faster, more zippy than any other pursuit. Within months I too could start to predict things that actually would happen or had happened and equally important, I knew when many things would not happen for myself and for others.

I saw myself pretty stark and bare.

This honesty can be dizzying if it happens too fast.

Such knowledge is a taste of omniscience, a little homeopathic dose of infinity.

Now, I learned in college that say, 1/8th of infinity is still infinity. That is what this feeling is like. It’s still infinity.

If you are closely guarding your every move and believing in how good you are because you mostly follow the rules, your mind instead gets blown, your head cracked open to the stars.

You realize a Coca-Cola is not the biggest thing in the world.

And you do still more charts. The knowledge gets overwhelming, the truth adds up. Infinity, homeopathic or not, surrounds infinity.

If you are not living expansively disciplined, say by living with a yoga master, your saadhana, once based entirely on ego, can unfortunately weaken without that daily physical discipline, so easy to do when it was superficial.

It’s like signing up for a nourishing delivery of milk and instead getting major feasts of chocolate out of the air. The attention to the milk delivery may dissipate, although it is still essential, and more important than the dessert.

I am a little bit flailing here in trying to describe what a little taste of infinity is like. I guess my point is, to a small mind, a small infinity is equal to an infinite infinity. Partial omniscience is as wide and scary and huge and important as omniscience itself.

I wonder if this is why astrologers don’t eat as well, or take as much control of their bodies, or are as personally disciplined as other people in the Vedic world.

We study, we work, we practice, we see things, but without lots of attention, we may get imbalanced. It’s so easy to do.

Infinity all at once is a hard gift to accept.

I know that I ask your forebearance, your understanding, and ultimately your forgiveness for not being perfect. I know well enough the importance of what I know, but the vessel is still fragile, basically insufficient for its content.

I’m catching up to myself and am doing the best I can. Thanks.