Quiz #2 – Mark Gilles 4025 Yoga & Wellness - Karuna Yoga Fall TTP 200

1. What is Ayurveda? How is it relevant to Yoga?

Scholars consider Ayurveda to be humankind’s oldest medical science. Ayurveda,
like Raja Yoga is rooted in the Samkhya school of Vedic philosophy. The Vedas were
orally transmitted for thousands of years until they were eventually recorded within
the earliest spiritual texts of mankind, around 4,000 BC. This timeless knowledge
was revealed to the Rishi of ancient India in deep meditation. Its ultimate source is
Brahma, the Supreme Dharma, or God.
Ayurveda is a holistic approach to health that is designed to keep people living long,
healthy, and well-balanced lives. There are several aspects of Ayurveda which are
different from current approaches to health care:
• It focuses on establishing and maintaining balance of the life energies, rather
than focusing on individual symptoms.
• It recognizes the unique constitutional differences of all individuals and
recommends different regimens for different types of people.
• Ayurveda assists Nature by promoting harmony between the individual and
Nature by living a life of balance according to her laws.
• Ayurveda describes three fundamental energies which regulate the entire
material Universe, both at macrocosmic and microcosmic levels. These
universal energies are named the Doshas.
• Ayurveda treats the mind and body together, holistically.

Ayurveda is relevant to the practice of Yoga in the same way the proper
maintenance of climbing boots is relevant to the mountain climber. Both are meant
to work together. Ayurveda maintains the body and mind balanced and healthy for
the long haul. Yoga trains the mind and body for self-realization, as Purusha.

“The link between Yoga and Ayurveda is prana, or life-force. Yoga is the intelligence
of prana seeking greater evolutionary transformations, while Ayurveda is its healing
power, seeking to consolidate the life systems it has developed”1

2. In Samkhya philosophy, what are Purusha and Prakriti? What is

their relationship? How do they manifest in creation?

Samkhya philosophy, one of the oldest and most profound realizations of the human
mind, is the original spiritual science in which yoga, Ayurveda, and Buddhism is
based. This knowledge was revealed by God to the Vedic sage Kapila, who was its
first teacher. Information on the life of Kapila has been unfortunately lost to time.
Samkhya philosophy tells us that Brahman is ultimate, pure reality – the Divine Field
from which all matter, energy, time, space, consciousness comes into being.
1
Frawley, David. Yoga & Ayurveda: Self-Healing and Self-Realization. Twin Lakes: Lotus
Press (1999)
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Quiz #2 – Mark Gilles 4025 Yoga & Wellness - Karuna Yoga Fall TTP 200

However, there can be two aspects of Brahman, unmanifest and manifest. In its
unmanifest state, Brahman simply is - beyond all names, forms, and attributes –
indescribable. Swami Sivananda writes, “In the beginning, Brahman who is one
without a second, alone exists. When darkness was rolling over darkness, there was
existence alone”.2 To me, unmanifest Brahman sounds like the concept of
singularity which one would hear in a physics class – the singularity present at the
cusps of cyclical big crunches/big bangs. Hindu mythology tells us that unmanifest
Brahman divides and manifests a Universe to have a partner. This is the manifest
aspect of Brahman.

I find it amazing that the ancient sages of India realized an endless cycle in which
universes are created, destroyed and created again. This endless cycle has been
described as the sleep and awaking of Brahman. Here’s an interesting website
regarding a very recent discovery regarding the cyclical nature of Universe creation:
The Big Bang might not have been the beginning of the universe, but just the start
of a new chapter. Interesting stuff, but I’ve gotten off track.

Brahman, as manifested Universe, is comprised of two aspects, Purusha and

Prakriti. These are soul and matter, named respectively. These manifest dual
realities can briefly be described as:

• Purusha –pure eternal consciousness; unchanging, the only source of

consciousness; our Divine Self and our true identity - “the observer”.

• Prakriti –unmanifest nature, the phenomenal realm, the uncaused cause of

space, energy and time; the cycle of birth and death, - “that which is
observed”.

From a Christian perspective, this duality might seem like God the Creator (Purusha)
and his creation (Prakriti). Samkhya tells us that there is no absolute creator.
Rather, the world is the result of a union between the eternal principals of Prakriti
and Purusha. Until Prakriti “is observed” by Purusha, the three primal aspects of
Nature are in absolute stasis. The witness of consciousness creates disequilibrium
among these aspects of Prakriti, as a stone into a still pond - and a world comes into
being. Interesting.

Every conscious being is an individual Purusha. There are 6.8 billion humans on our
planet currently, each a Purusha unrestricted by our physical bodies and capable of
limitless bliss and eternal freedom. Prakriti, on the other hand, is all physical
aspects of the universe that we sense – as well as the senses and ideations
themselves.

The aim of Kapila’s teaching is to liberate us from this mistaken self-identity with
Prakriti. We think that our material body and mind are the be-all and end-all of our
existence. We attach to this world in the same way. Our attachment to the world,
2
Swami Sivananda. Bliss Devine - A Book of Spiritual Essays. Uttaranchal, India: Divine Life
Society (2006)
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Quiz #2 – Mark Gilles 4025 Yoga & Wellness - Karuna Yoga Fall TTP 200

the cause of all human suffering, is the result of Purusha being bound within
Prakriti. Prakriti is in constant change, that which we depend for happiness – our
beloved, our security, our health, sensual pleasures, and our constitutional beliefs -
all are impermanent. We are something vastly beyond our bodies and our mind.
The Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali, based in the teachings of Samkhya philosophy, lay
out a system to achieve that freedom.

3. What are the three elements of creation (gunas)? Explain the

characteristics of each of them.
The components of Prakriti, called the Gunas, are Tamas, Rajas and Sattva. These
are the tendencies or operating principals from which the entire fabric of nature is
woven.

• Sattva – balance, harmony, peace, light. From the Bhagavad Gita

(14.06): “Of these, Sattva, being calm, is illuminating and ethical. It fetters
the embodied being, the Jeevaatma or Purusha, by attachment to happiness
and knowledge, O Arjuna”.
• Rajas – activity and movement, dynamism, energy. From the Bhagavad
Gita (14.07): “O Arjuna, know that Rajas is characterized by selfish activity
and is born of desire and attachment. It binds the Jeeva by attachment to the
fruits of work”.
• Tamas – inertia, non-moving, and sometimes lethargy, matter. From
the Bhagavad Gita (14.08): Know, O Arjuna, that Tamas, the deluder of Jeeva,
is born of inertia. It binds by ignorance, laziness, and excessive sleep.
Figure 1 correlates the three Gunas with their corresponding avatars, the “Hindu
Trinity”. Created by Svasti, a woman in Australia who writes a blog called Svasti:
A Journey from Assault to Wholeness . Used with permission:

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Quiz #2 – Mark Gilles 4025 Yoga & Wellness - Karuna Yoga Fall TTP 200

Figure 1

Again, a universe is manifest when the three gunas of Prakriti are brought into
disequilibrium and set into motion upon witness of Purusha. The metaphor of a
stone being tossed into a still pond is a good one, considering everything in the
Universe is essentially a wave. I’ve been researching possible association between
the three components of a wave (amplitude, phase and frequency) and the three
gunas. I’ll have to return to that inquiry some other time!
In Samkhya, the three Gunas give rise to twenty four aspects of existence called
tattvas. If Purusha and Prakriti were Velcro™, with Purusha being the fuzzy side and
Prakriti being the hook side, tattvas are the hooks that bind us to the world. Ha.
They are:
• Prakriti (primordial nature)
• Mahat or Buddhi (divine mind, cosmic consciousness)
• Ahamkara (the ego, differentiating mind)
• Manas (ego as structured sensory experience)
• The Five Tanmatras (subtle energies causing sense experience, potentiality of
sense experience)

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Quiz #2 – Mark Gilles 4025 Yoga & Wellness - Karuna Yoga Fall TTP 200

Shabda Tanmatra – tanmatra of Rupa Tanmatra – tanmatra of

sound sight
Sparsha Tanmatra – tanmatra of Gandha Tanmatra – tanmatra of
touch smell
Tanmatra – tanmatra of sound
• Pancha Jnanendriyani (the five sense organs: ears, skin, eyes, tongue, nose )
• Pancha Karmendriyani (the five motor organs: mouth, hand, feet, genital, anus)
• Pancha Mahabhutani (the five elements: earth, water, fire, ether )

Figure 23 below shows the bound structure of Prakriti:

Figure 2

Figure 34 shows the orderly process of retracing our way back through the binds of
Prakriti to Purusha. This is the path to liberation as set forth by the Yoga Sutras of
Pantanjali.

3
Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati. Samkhya Yoga, Prakriti and its Evolutes: Returning to Self-
realization
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Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati. Samkhya Yoga, Prakriti and its Evolutes: Returning to Self-
realization
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Quiz #2 – Mark Gilles 4025 Yoga & Wellness - Karuna Yoga Fall TTP 200

Figure 3

4. What are the three main constitutions (Doshas)? Explain the

characteristics of each of them.
According to Ayurvedic science, the cosmos is the interplay between the three
original forces of light, energy and matter, or sattva, rajas and tamas respectively.
When these three forces are imbued with prana or life-force, they create the three
doshas – Vata, Pitta and Kapha. The balance or imbalance of the doshas
determines the state of an individual’s physical and mental health. Ayurvedic
science maintains wellness and treats disease by bringing doshas in balance.
One’s basic constitution is determined by the level of each dosha at the moment of
conception. This unique baseline is termed prakruti in Ayurveda and is determined
by karma. Our three doshas are in constant vacillation, causing imbalance. There
are two primary causes of this imbalance, natural and unnatural. Natural causes of
doshic imbalance are the aging process, the seasons and even time of day.
Unnatural causes of doshic imbalance are inappropriate diet, inappropriate lifestyle,
trauma, etc.
Below is a list of the three doshas and the characteristics:
Vata
Vata means wind in Sanskrit and is the primary dosha and is a combination of the
air and ether elements. Vata brings dynamism to the other two doshas which are
otherwise inert. The key to managing the balance of the doshas is the care related
to the Vata dosha.
The operations and characteristics of the Vata dosha are:

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Quiz #2 – Mark Gilles 4025 Yoga & Wellness - Karuna Yoga Fall TTP 200

• Operation: all movement in the body and mind, elimination, metabolism, and
the nervous system.
• Characteristics: tendency for dry skin and hair, tall, slender, cold hands and
feet; creative and quick to learn, quick to forget, racing disjointed thought;
energetic, excitable and fun when balanced; prone to moodiness, stress,
worry and anxiety when imbalanced.
Pitta
Pitta means “the power of digestion or cooking” and is a combination of the fire and
water elements. Pitta is responsible for transformation - of food to energy within our
digestive tract as well as the mind’s ability to process impression, ideas, and
emotion in order to arrive at the perception of truth.
The operations and characteristics of the Pitta dosha are:
• Operation: metabolism, maintaining body temperature, digestion,
comprehension, reasoning and judgment
• Characteristics: tendency for strong, well-built bodies; warm, fair skin, strong
digestion; self-passionate, confident and focused when balanced; prone to
aggression when imbalanced.
Kapha
Kapha means “what makes things stick together” and is associated with mucus or
phlegm (yeah, sounds gross but it’s not). Kapha represents the power of cohesion,
and provides a container for the operation of the other two doshas. Kapha is a
combination of the water and earth elements.
The operations and characteristics of the Pitta dosha are:
• Operation: provides moistness and lubrication; provides stability for mind
and body; strength; fertility and virility.
• Characteristics: tendency for strong, sturdy bodies; soft hair and skin; very
calm and strives for harmony when in balance; prone to depression and
possessiveness when imbalanced.