Love of Krishna is locked up in the heart of the living entity, but to access it, we need to know the combinations….
The Combinations to the Safe (those combinations that help us to be spiritually safe) Part 1
The Agni and the Ecstasy
On route to achieving higher states of devotional consciousness, and just by the nature of life itself, we all stand to face challenges and tests. Those tests we don’t pass don’t pass us. They simply re-enter our lives at a different point until we learn from and ultimately transcend them. Challenges always test our resilience, ability to let go of negative mindsets or disappointing situations. They often also test our ability to forgive. Forgiveness happens in a deep way when we are able to digest and truly grow through the hard times.
In Ayurveda, it’s explained that just as there is a fire of digestion that allows one to digest food, there is also a fire of digestion within the mind that allows one to digest difficult or traumatic experiences. This fire is called Sadhaka Agni. Not everyone is born with the same strength of Sadhaka Agni, and for this reason, irrespective of the magnitude of the difficulties we go through, different people are able to digest challenges and disappointments more healthily, swiftly and positively than others. How do we develop our ability to come through challenges and traumatic experiences in ways that are truly and deeply strong, healthy and constructive? How do we avoid holding onto bitterness and prevent ourselves from allowing the entire nature of our lives to be defined by those negative experiences?
The different internal and external challenges life throws at us needn’t be a problem because we always have the ability to make ourselves internally stronger. We always have the ability to use whatever has happened for our growth and development.
According to Ayurveda, emotional imbalances are due to our inability to process or digest emotions in a timely way. When someone is genuinely able to digest negative emotions quickly, they are able to let them go and move on with their lives in a progressive way. If we have trouble digesting such emotions, it’s like the food of our experience not digesting or digesting very slowly, which can then create mental toxins such as depression. This is due to the negative impressions remaining in our minds and effecting our current emotions and thoughts.
A person with strong Sadhaka Agni will have the memory of the negative experience but it will no longer affect them. They will think “That negative experience happened but I am a different person now.” She processes the experience quickly. Due to our past life, some of us are born with strong Sadhaka Agni, some with weak Sadhaka Agni and some with variable Sadhaka Agni. The good news is that we can strengthen our Sadhaka Agni by the way we live and associate. Honouring prasadam properly, living more naturally, surrounding ourselves with supportive people and avoiding unnecessarily negative or envious association all increase our Sadhaka Agni. Deeply imbibing and practicing spiritual knowledge by the regular study of Prabhupadas’ books greatly and deeply increases and strengthens our Sadhaka Agni. If such study is done attentively and regularly, it’s like fanning a spark and increasing that spark until it becomes an inferno that burns to ashes the toxins of negative impressions.
“As a blazing fire turns firewood to ashes, O Arjuna, so does the fire of knowledge burn to ashes all reactions to material activities” Bhagavad Gita 4.37
In the purport, Prabhupada writes as follows:
Perfect knowledge of self and Superself and of their relationship is compared herein to fire…There are many stages of reaction…but knowledge of the constitutional position of the living entity burns everything to ashes. When one is in complete knowledge, all reactions, both a priori and a posteriori, are consumed…
A sign of low Sadhaka Agni can be weak power of discrimination. By study of sastra, subtle effects take place within the consciousness providing depth and sharpness of judgement and evaluation, based upon real and eternal principles. The inability to sit quietly without feeling restless can also be a sign of weak Sadhaka Agni. Procrastination, lack of endurance or perseverance, inability to keep commitments or fulfil ones daily duties can also signify weak Sadhaka Agni.
If we lose control of our emotions and thoughts, this can eventually degrade into losing control of our actions. The more one practices Krishna Consciousness in the mode of goodness, the more one naturally strengthens and invokes the Sadhaka Agni.
Additional tips for strengthening the Sadhaka Agni
1. Sleep before ten pm whenever possible (Some people work shifts) or even earlier because before 10 pm is the kapha period, and sleeping at that time gives restorative sleep. After 10 pm, the pitta period comes which doesn’t give the same quality of regeneration because sleep is then more likely to be restless.
2. Rising early has a subtle effect on the mind, and imbibes more goodness into it, helping it to be more positive and balanced. Try to maximise the mode of goodness hours in your life. From 2am-10am is goodness, 10-6pm is passion. 6pm to 2am is ignorance. The Vedic kings would maximise their time in goodness and use this for sadhana and planning the day. They would use the period of passion for execution, and the period of ignorance for relaxation, socialising and sleep. Sleeping during the late morning, after 6am can make the mind dull as it can cause blocks within the subtle channels known as the shrotas.
3. Daily exercise helps move negative emotions out of the body and increases the Agni so it is very useful and progressive to include this in your schedule.
4. Try to have a bowel movement each morning, drink plenty of water and eat your meals at around the same time. The midday meal should be between 12-2pm when the Agni in the stomach is strongest.
5. Try to eat foods that are more natural and unprocessed. These foods are more quickly digested by the body and create an energy called ojas, which gives stable emotions and good health.
6. Avoid junk food, as these create ama or toxins in the body and weaken the Sadhaka Agni. They allow negative emotions to be stored in the body rather than released from it.
7. Practice positive behaviours. These are called Acharya rasayanas, or behavioural rasayanas. The Charaka Samhita says that by the regular practice of these behaviours, one will gain in overall health and wellbeing. They include being truthful, sweet in speech, calm, clean, charitable, respectful to seniors (such as teachers, parents, elders), loving and balanced, humble, self controlled, positive, and devoted to study of sastra.
8. Associate and surround yourself with positive loving people who support you and encourage you to live in the mode of goodness. Create a loving environment around yourself in this way. The Charaka Samhita says that good company means company of those mature in wisdom, patient, mature in sadhana, understanding of human nature, well behaved, peaceful and who advocate right action and conduct. The same text encourages the avoidance of those who are negative in thought, conduct and speech, argumentative, lacking in compassion, regularly speak ill of others, cruel, greedy, envious of the prosperity of others, those who speak sarcastically and those who do not live virtuously.
Note: after birth, the fire of digestion for women goes very low, and so can lead to fluctuating emotions, anxiety or depression. Emotional support is important for us all throughout our lives, but after childbirth, it is considered especially important as it enhances metabolism and Sadhaka Agni at the same time.
Child hood is a time of life when one naturally takes a while to process thoughts and feelings. At the same time, children are naturally inquisitive, open and enthusiastic to learn. Therefore they require time, affection and attention. If parents do not spend time with their children and answer their questions, the heart of the child becomes emotionally dissatisfied, and this can make them more prone to emotional imbalances in life.
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