Brahma Muhurta : The Hour of Divinity & Our Health What is that one thing you hated the most as a kid? Undoubtedly (or maybe), it was your mother waking you up early in the morning to study. Little did you know that she was doing right by bringing out the best in you and carving a wonderful future ahead. Our ancestors were keen on waking up in the morning and knew the benefits of being active early. Ayurveda has always given importance to a healthy lifestyle and mentions ‘Brahma muhurta’ as the best time to wake up. If you still hate your Mondays or like to snooze the alarm, read on to know what miraculous effect early mornings can bring into your life and what Ayurveda says about Brahma muhurta. What Is Brahma Muhurta? The word ‘Brahma’ literally means knowledge and ‘Muhurta’ stands for time. Thus, Brahma muhurta is a specific time that is considered best for gaining knowledge. It is the last phase of night, before the dawn when one should give up his/her sleep and gear up for a new day. As a mode of healthy lifestyle, Ashtanga Hridayam describes the importance of Brahma muhurta, the first thing in the chapter Dinacharya: ब्राह्मे मुहूर्त उत्तिष्ठेत्स्वस्थो रक्षार्थमायुषः II (Ashtanga Hridayam Sutrasthana 2/1) Acharya Vaghbata in the above verse says, a person should wake up at Brahma muhurta in the best interest to protect his life and for longevity. Now the question comes as to which time is considered as Brahma muhurta. There is a difference of opinion regarding the time of Brahma muhurta, but the most accepted time period is roughly one and a half hours before sunrise or more precisely 1 hour 36 minutes before sunrise. A quick look at this calculation is going to be interesting: According to commentators like Arunadatta, Indu and Hemadri, one Ahorathram (one day and one night) consists of 30 muhurtas in total, which means a day and night consists of 15 muhurtas each. Brahma muhurta is the 14th Muhurtakala of night. 1 muhurta = 48minutes Therefore, 1 night = 15 muhurta = 15*48 = 720 minutes. Since Brahma muhurta is the 14th muhurtakala of night, it comes after the completion of 13 muhurtas. Also, 13*48 = 624 minutes. Thus, Brahma muhurta is 720-624 = 96 minutes or 1 hour 36 minutes before sunrise. As the sunrise varies according to seasons and weather changes in different parts of the world, Brahma muhurta also varies
Ayurveda proposes that Purusha (individual) and Prakriti (nature) are interlinked and so, the chemicals used in prakriti will lead to serious after effects in purusha. It is mentioned in Ayurveda that food grown in polluted environment loses its rasa (taste) and gandha (smell), thus reducing its pharmaceutical properties. The cultivation of plants whether for consumption or medicinal use should be done in a sustainable manner, with minimum interaction from chemicals to ensure good health and longevity along with a more positive impact on your mental and emotional health.Ayurveda being a holistic system of medicine places immense importance on proper diet. The quality of food is an important aspect which influences our health. The foundation of a healthy body and good immune system lies in a proper, wholesome diet. With our busy schedules, the concept of eating healthy and staying healthy was being neglected, but the scenario is changing and the current generation is extremely careful about what they eat. Counting each calories and researching the labels of ingredients for any harmful additives, we are on a close vigil for everything we consume. But one fact which we often fail to realise is the long list of unwanted chemicals that intrude into our everyday food, and we are on a false conception that we are eating healthy. We are eating healthy, but are we eating right As a part of the war against hunger and food scarcity, about four decades ago, India also launched the widely celebrated Green revolution in a bid to achieve food safety for its vast population. But the truth is that the green revolution was never very green. What started with the modern technique of using high yielding seeds, monoculture cropping, petroleum based fertilisers and pesticides in place of the traditional methods of farming, definitely improved the situation of world, but it is leading to a more serious predicament: decline in environmental quality and pernicious health issues which are threatening global security.The reckless use of chemical pesticides reduces the general biodiversity of the soil and accumulation of these chemicals into living organism, the concentration of which increases as we proceed up in the food chain, leads to a phenomenon called bio magnification. Considering that humans are at the top of the food chain, we have a high risk of accumulating substantial concentrations of these chemicals through bio magnification. The health implications of these chemicals range from short time impacts
It is like watching a science fiction serial☣️, one episode lasts 24 hours since end December still continuing novel coronavirus covid-19 not on television screen but in real life. In December 2019 the Chinese authorities notified the rest of the worls that a virus was spreading through their communities. In the following months it spread to other countries with cases doubling within days. This virus was similar to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and subsequently named Coronavirus 2 or COVID 19. What is a virus and why is COVID 19 a bigger deal than SARS or Seasonal flu virus? It has to do with RNA sequencing, ie. Genetics. Seasonal flu is an all human virus. The DNA/RNA chains that make up the virus are recognised by the human immune system. This means that human body has some immunity to it before it comes around each year. Immunity is acquired in two ways; through exposure to a virus or by getting a flu shot. In contrast to SARS virus, COVID 19 viruses come from animals. These viruses usually transfer only from animal to animal (pigs in the case of H1N1 and birds in the case of Spanish flu.) But once, one of the animal viruses mutates and starts to transfer from animals to humans, it becomes problematic – because we have no natural or acquired immunity. The RNA sequencing of the genes inside the is not human, and the human immune system does not recognise it. So we cannot fight it off. The mutation sometimes allows transfer from animal to human. This mutation might take years to happen; usually it happens from an infected animal to a human. When this final happens we have a new contagion phase. How contagious or how deadly is the new contagion can be depends on the fashion of the new virus. H1N1 was deadly, but not as deadly as the Spanish flu. Its RNA was slower to mutate and it attacked its host differently. In December 2019 came the Coronavirus – nobody knows how long it existed in animals only; but one day at an animal market in Wuhan, China, it mutated and made a jump from animal to people. To start with, only animals could give it to people; but in just two weeks it mutated again and gained ability to jump from human to human. Scientists call this quick ability “Slippery”🧼. COVID 19 not being a “human” virus