Article by Dr Raghuram Y.S. MD (Ay) & Dr Manasa S, B.A.M.S

Nothing is flawless. There is a mistake or flaw in everything and everyone. There is nothing called ‘perfection’ in the creation. When there is dosha – impurities, mistakes, error or contamination in relation to anything or any person, they should be removed or expelled.

Removal of dosha is itself the best remedy. This also purifies the things or person and establishes purity of health and balance, as the case may be. If these errors, mistakes, impurities or contamination are not removed, it would become troublesome.

In this article we will discuss three components which tend to become dushita i.e. get contaminated or may get masked by undesirable impurities or errors which need to be corrected. We will also look at the methods of cleansing them of their impurities.

Three impurities and three cleansers!

कायवाग्बुद्धिविषया ये मलाः समुपस्थिताः।
चिकित्सालक्षणाध्यात्मशास्त्रैस्तेषां विशुद्धयः॥(वाक्यपदीय)

There are three impurities related to three aspects which need to be cleansed by three different cleansers. They are as follows –

1. Kaya Mala – means, the impurities of the body.

The word mala is used in two senses in Ayurveda i.e. doshas and excreta. Both contaminate the body – doshas when aggravated and excreta when they get stagnated in the body without being expelled properly in proper time. In this context we will limit the discussion to the doshas. These aggravated doshas would contaminate the body tissues and channels, get localized in them and cause diseases. Therefore doshas are the kaya mala. There is no harm in considering the excreta also in this context because when held back they too contaminate the body. Since these malas i.e. doshas contaminate the body and make it impure and on long run would also damage the tissues, mind and senses, they need to be identified when they start giving initial signs of creating nuisance and disturbance in the body and expelled or addressed with proper interventions.

But how do we do that?

What is the remedy?

2. Vak Mala – means impurities of speech.

Among all purities it is desired for every human being to have three kinds of purities i.e.

–        Purity by body

–        Purity by speech and

–        Purity by mind and thoughts

We might have encountered people who are not calculative or observant regarding what and how much they speak. The quantity, quality and timing of speech and the words cautiously chosen therein defines the personality of the individual. Impurity occurs when the speech of a person comes into picture when these speech ethics are not followed or the person is not evolved through the ‘trimming of speech’. So, the basics of speech itself are wrong. This installs viruses, defects, impurities, errors and toxins in the speech. Some people might speak well but it may grammatically sound weird, un-situational, out of context, annoying or alien in nature. The culture of speech will be missing in these people and their speech. Conversation and speech is a culture which one needs to develop and get habituated to. The ethics and foundation of the same come from home and initial schooling. We are what we speak. To fit ourselves into the goodness of the society we need to trim our speech, language and words. This demands awareness over the quality, quantity and timing of speech.

But how do we do that?

What is the remedy?

3. Buddhi Mala – means impurities of intellect.

Buddhi means intellect. We need intelligence which is a basic inbuilt mechanism which guides us through nuances of life and teaches us to respond to various things happening with us and around us. So, its sanity decides what we are. One should learn to use his intelligence as per situation and no one teaches us to do that. It all depends on the environment in which we are brought up. Intelligence is not just mugging up things, writing them in exams and scoring good marks. Intellect and intelligence is something massive and cosmic. It is a tool which helps us to evolve in the world and also within ourselves.

According to Ayurveda – diversions and perversions of in the pathways and manifestations of Dhi – intelligence, Dhrti – courage and decision making power and Smriti – memory are the root causes of all intellectual errors / blasphemy – known as Prajnaparadha – ‘the mistakes done in a state of consciousness’. This will lead to erratic decisions leading to untoward, harmful and damaging consequences and eventually to many diseases of psychosomatic and emotional origin.

Prajnaparadha is one of the chief causes for manifestation of all diseases in one or the other way.

So, in these cases, intellectual cleansing too is needed.

But how do we do that?

What is the remedy?

Now we will find the methods of cleansing these three entities i.e. impurities of body, speech and intellect.

Three Best Cleansers for Three Major Impurities

1. Chikitsa – treatment or therapeutic approaches for Kaya Mala – Physical Cleansing

Chikitsa i.e. treatment is the best remedy or cleanser for physical impurities i.e. doshas. Chikitsa may be of many kinds. It is left to the skilful physician to select the module of treatment after having thoroughly analyzed and diagnosed the nature of disease and diseased and magnitude of dosha aggravation and the quantum of damage that they have incurred in a part or different parts of the body (stage in the kriyakala of the disease).

The basic three kinds of treatments which includes the entire spectrum of therapeutics are –

–        Daiva Vyapashraya Chikitsa – divine or spiritual remedies for diseases not responding to conventional forms of treatments.

–        Yukti Vyapashraya Chikitsa – rational choices of conventional treatment approaches made as per situational understanding of the disease, its pathogenesis and diagnosis. This includes all treatment forms like shodhana, shamana, rasayana, brimhana etc therapies and all kinds of external and internal treatments, cleansing, palliative and supportive treatments.

–        Sattvavajaya Chikitsa – includes psychotherapy, counseling sessions and all treatments used for mind-senses-emotional healing.

Related Reading – Chikitsa

2. Lakshana – grammatical coaching and validation of speech for Vak Mala – Speech Cleansing

For dealing with impurities of speech, the realization on the part of the person is very important. He or she need to evaluate that all problems they are facing in their life is due to the impurities in their speech and chosen words, the errors in quality, quantum and timing of speech. It might not be intentional (or also may be) but one needs to trim up the speech, words and language if he needs to fit healthy into the society norms, for self-respect and also to respect the others around.

Lakshana here means vyakarana – grammar. One needs to have a grammatical approach towards his speech. Grammar correction will purify the speech and the person will learn to speak in an orderly and good manner. He needs to take special language and grammatical classes with experts and fine tune his speech and also learn the ‘word use and language management’. This will remove the impurity and awkwardness of his speech.

3. Adhyatma Shastra – spiritual and religious training for cleansing Buddhi Mala – Intellectual cleansing

For purification of the impurities and contaminants of the intellect, one should indulge in regular and extensive practice of Adhyatma Shastras i.e. spiritual sciences. Adhyatma means higher self or over-self. One needs to first understand and accept that he or she is not important. We are a negligible part of higher self. Our self i.e. the individual soul or life element in us has its origin from the greater self or soul, the Paramatma. We will ultimately merge into the higher self when we are done with our existence. We are here with a purpose and all our actions should be in a Dharmic way. This acceptance comes through Adhyatma Jnana i.e. spiritual knowledge, awareness and elevation. This will put us in a right and righteous pathway of living. Our spiritual elevation also comes from knowing the value of self and the importance of this life. We can do this through visiting ourselves through introspection and an inward journey to know ourselves.

Adhyatma Jnana helps in purifying our intellects. This opens up the pathways for thinking right and making rightful and righteous decisions. With this spiritual knowledge we learn to use our intellect in a proper way thus preventing its diversion or perversion. We would have tapped the true essence and meaning of life and found a pathway for eternal liberty. This also will help us to keep the diseases at bay and in our spiritual evolution.