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For the most part the world has lost the art and science of consuming dried grains freshly ground so to speak. When it comes to visa (poison) in this Kali yuuga we are all happy to have it freshly ground perhaps a cup of coffee here or there.
Grains are the cornerstone (excuse the pun!) of vibrant health. But grains must be consumed fresh. Every home should be transformed into an aum sweet aum and have their grains ground fresh. In Indian villages still today there will be a steadfast bullock or now more recently an electric mill to grind the grains. The older generations know the difference in taste and also the illustrious health wonders of fresh grain corns ground.
The wheat kernel is full of chetana (intelligence) and prana (life force). When it is ground it becomes more refined but loses it’s original form. If we leave it in this form too long the prana is less and less each day.
If you have ever tasted a flat bread made from freshly ground grains you will know this wonder for just for the fragrance and flavor you will never go back. In Madanapalas Nighantu, a centuries old text of Ayurvedic living, fresh grains is listed as one of the 5 health giving substances for human life.
Try to find a home stone grain grinder, the one we use at Vedic Society is this one: Fidibus 21
Fresh grain growing in Annapurna Farm
It is an investment in your health and may your prassadam be radiant as the morning light. On that note we leave you with a recipe for freshly ground grain chapatis.
King Madana Chapatis
- Freshly ground organic wheat 1 cup
- Freshly ground oats grain 1/2 cup
- Freshly ground organic barley grain 1/2 cup
- Rock Salt
- 1 tsp warm ghee
- Water as needed to make chapati dough
- Mother’s masala
- Squeeze of fresh lime
Blend all ingredients and make the chapatis on open cast iron pans. Add fresh mint or coriander too if you wish.
Rishis gave Raagas for each time of the day, for each season and for much more. The idea behind Raagas for a particular time was very simple. Each time of the day has a different quality. For example midday is a time of agni or fire where the sun is at it’s zenith (in the 10th house in Jyotish) and in most latitudes this is the hot time of the day. Even if there is not physical heat due to the season, the relative fire principal is strongest at this time due to the predominance of direct solar radiation. So the Raaga that would be played at this time would be soothing and cooling and thus it would be an apt balance to the natural condition. Ayurveda is about balance, in the foundation teachings it’s very essence is to use opposites to bring harmony into balance. When onces system be it a body or a country is too hot, one uses cooling herbs such as sandalwood or rose to nourish and cool it and thus harmony is restored in body and mind. This harmony is called samadhi, it is a state of no thought velocity, the silence of the Self (the aatmaa) is subsequently heard so to speak and there is just beingness and connection and natural and spontaneous surrender to the Creator.
Quite soon we will be launching our online Radio Gandharva which is a smart radio that will work out where you are listening from and play you the right Raaga for the right time. Till then explore some Raagas and enjoy
Morning Raaga (aprox 7am – 10am)
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Noon Raaga (aprox 10am – 1m)
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Early Afternoon Raaga (aprox 1pm – 4pm)
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Early Evening Raaga (aprox 4pm – 7pm)
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Night Raaga (aprox 7pm – 10pm)
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For those enlightened souls or otherwise those not wishing to or not able to sleep (the late night Raagas will help for sure!) here are the midnight oil Raagas and more:
Midnight Raaga (aprox 10pm – 1am)
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Deep Night Raaga (aprox 1am – 4am)
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Brahmamuhuurta Raaga (aprox 1am – 4am)
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In a very short while we will have the automated Radio Gandharva ready so hold onto your seats!
Yesterday we did Agnihotra for the first time on the Somayajnya land where we will be performing this Mahayajnya in April 2010 for the benefit of the entire mother earth. As I entered the land two dogs were barking in a slightly unfriendly way and they continued to bark until just before Agnihotra time (yesterday the exact astronomical time of sunset, which is the time Agnihotra is performed at, was at 18:02). Fascinatingly the dogs went silent at exactly 18:01 and kept quite evermore until I had to leave. This demonstrates how even this tiny Yajnya done for just a few moments can send healing waves of peace upon the surrounding atmosphere.
We had two special guests who came to watch who are presently staying on the land and caring for it.
Nature responded in a beautiful way to say thank you.
And the horses came out to see what was happening.
We are working day and night on the new Vedic Society web site. This is an offering to all that there may be more light in each corner of our world. The soul is pure light and it is only the mind that gets clouded with wrong understanding of life that prevents this light or sattva from shining forth. We are born into a world that is upside down as wrong living, wrong thinking and wrong action predominate our daily existence. Vedic wisdom is there to set things straight. From very simple and practical day to day things to the entire concept of human life and how we are here to totally offer our lives to the Divine. This is Vedic wisdom. Our beautiful team are working on the new site so bear with us if you find links going into nowhere or unedited words. We are sculpting it live.
Jaggery preparation in Karnataka
Ayurvedic Texts (ayurvedic shastra) teach about jaggery (guda) and elaborately mention it’s health benefits and nutritive properties. Jaggery is sugar cane juice that has been concentrated by means of cooking it to reduce the water content. Rishis taught that as jaggery is kept to mature for some time, it becomes even more benifical for health. It is a sweetner that if taken in moderation is a great elexir to health but sadly a nearly forgotton food worldwide save it’s use in a few delicacies and special recipes in Indian cuisine. If one visits almost any Indian sweet shop one will find 99% of the sweets are preared with white sugar which is sugar can that has been refined to it’s chemical base sweetner of sucrose. All the chetana (pranic intelligence) and prana (life force) has been removed from this substance. Along with that in the “modern” process of “refining” the sugar, chemicals are used to extract and bleach and these chemical residues are highly toxic so all in all white sure is “pure”, “white” and “deadly”. It is a slow poison and as it gives an incredible high (and then a low some hours later), people are for the most highly adicted to white sugar. Consumption of white sugar has increased manifold in this century, and so has disease. Ayurvedic texts mention methods of refining sugar but these are all natural and near forgotten processes like open pan sugar (khandasari) refining and also distillation of sugar to prepare rock sugar. These preparations are still sometimes used by some Vaidyas. We will try to feature the production of both in our blog shortly.
So of course people are re-learning what sages have taught that jaggery is a great boon for health, but if you are taking jaggery it must absolutely be organic as the non-organic production of jaggery firstly is laden with chemicals from seed to the harvest (sugar cane is one of the most pesticided, herbiceded and fertilised crops in the world, being a “cash crop”). Secondly during the production of jaggery a number of chemicals are added to the jaggery all for different effects. We recently visited a cottage jaggery production (producing some 30,000 kgs per day so quite a large industry!), in Karnatake not far from Mysore. As the jaggery was cooked an unknown white chemical was being thrown into the jaggery. All the workers said was that it was a sulphur compound and that it helped the jaggery harden. There is no control of the chemical levels or the safety of the substance.
So whatever you do avoid non-organic jaggery. You will also notice that the non-organic jaggery often has a stranger almost chemical taste and smell and the colour can be quite off what it is meant to be (golden dark brown).
