Health Is Happiness

Health in Ayurveda is symptom-free. The smooth functioning of the digestive system, no disturbances in sleep, and nothing interfering with the flow of energy during the day. All of your operating systems will be operating well and to be healthy from an Ayurvedic standpoint.

Health is to have a happy and contented state of mind. That you will look at your life situation and be able to choose your mental and emotional response to those situations. You won’t be operating by your tendencies rather you’d be able to relate in this present moment in a way that is appropriate for this present moment.

Disease in Ayurveda is any physical or mental symptoms regardless of how small it is. Anything that stops you from the full and perfect expression of the functioning of your digestive system, anything that stops you from that easy flow of movement is looked at, from an Ayurvedic standpoint, as a disease.

So, how do we cause this? How do we create this disease in the body? What causes the primordial cause of disease, the number one cause of the disease is forgetting that you are not a ‘dosha’.

A ‘dosha’ is a fault. A ‘dosha’ is a problem. A ‘dosha’ is an energy that creates an imbalance. You are not ‘vata’, ‘pitta’ or ‘kapha’. What you are is beyond all that but your tendencies drive you towards imbalance and those tendencies are ‘vata’, ‘pitta’, or ‘kapha’.

The first cause of the disease is called the unwholesome conjunction of the senses with their objects. What does this mean? When you are cold wholesome conjunction is to warm yourself up. When you are overly moist wholesome conjunction is to do something that will dry you off. When you are tired wholesome conjunction is to allow your senses to rest. But how often do we really do this, how often do we really work opposite what our tendencies are.

When we live in alignment with our ‘doshic’ tendencies, with our preferences, with those things that we say we like, we may commit unwholesome conjunction of the senses. We gain wisdom through this, the first time you take in a substance that is unwholesome for you. It’s not going to feel good in your body, it’s not going to taste good. Can you think back to being a child and having that first taste of coffee or of alcohol? We can’t believe that adults would drink this stuff. They spit it out “this is horrible” but perhaps bringing us wisdom the taste of the object is telling us this is not appropriate for you.

When you know the impact of your action or non-action and you choose to act or to avoid action anyway. You are caught up in a crime against wisdom. Think for a moment is there something in your life that you’d do even though you know you’ll not feel good afterward. Is there something in your life that you know will be beneficial for you but you choose not to do for some reason. These are your own personal crimes against wisdom and this little place is where you can change. It may not seem easy at first because change is never easy at first. However, as you resolve these, as you begin to make these changes you will feel better.

We all want to capture this essence of youth and we recognize the way we capture this essence of youth is by stopping robbing ourselves of our youth. Our youth is where often we commit this crime against wisdom our youth is robbed when we need to rest and we don’t. When we need to warm up and we cool ourselves off. These are the unwholesome conjunction of the senses.