Ayurveda meets Spirituality – #1 Genesis of Garlic

Ayurvedic psycho-spirituality is based on the philosophy of we being eternal souls on our journey of evolving towards higher consciousness & knowledge. Ayurveda is a tool to help us pursue this goal by bringing our food & lifestyle in harmony with the nature such that one following it, is inclined towards the mode of goodness & experiences connection with one’s inner soul. Ayurveda and Spirituality are inseparable and in that context, I’m so inspired to share today (& in upcoming posts), the relevance of Spiritual stories, anecdotes, references from vedic spiritual texts with Ayurvedic food and lifestyle.

Let me bring to you an interesting story about churning of the milk ocean & genesis of garlic from the famous Vishnu Purana and view it in light of Ayurvedic applications & relevance to our modern lives: Long ago, Devatas (demigods) and Asuras (demons) were churning the milk ocean with Mandara mountain as a churning rod and Vasuki snake as a rope in order to obtain the “nectar of immortality” also called Amrit. Yeah, quite unbelievable, isn’t it?. When they obtained a pot of Amrit, the demigods were lined up to drink it when served by Mohini Murti – a female incarnation of Lord Vishnu. At that time, the demon Rahu disguised himself and got into the queue along with demigods and got for himself a bowl full of nectar. Just as he was about to swallow the nectar, he was caught and Lord Vishnu as Mohini murti cut off his head with his Sudarshan Chakra. The blood from his separated head fell on to the earth. Since his blood was mixed with nectar that he was trying to swallow, it sprouted on the earth into garlic – a food ingredient!

Garlic carries both beneficial and harmful properties since it was born of a mixture of “Demon’s blood” + “Nectar of immortality/Amrit”. So one who consumes garlic gets its both good and bad properties

You may have observed that the traditional Brahmins and pandits of temples usually don’t eat or serve onion and garlic. They believe that avoiding onion and garlic helps them maintain their spiritual balance. On energetic level as per Ayurveda, onion and garlic constrict the vibrational channels or the nadis in our body, preventing a person from experiencing mental clarity and higher states of consciousness. My teacher, Dr. Vaidya Mishra, used to say that whoever eats garlic and onion will have a strong body but their spiritual antennas will be blocked! On a physiological level, the very highly sulphur-rich onion and garlic, give them the properties of being a broad spectrum antibiotic. The antibiotics do not distinguish between good and bad bacteria in the body so while they can help us overcoming an infection, they simultaneously kill our most important friendly bacteria which are utmost essential for many functions including digestion and production of many neurotransmitters in our body. Did you know these friendly bacteria are also called the “brain of the brain”?

Thus, spiritually as well as physiologically garlic consumption can have negative effect on ones mind and body. It is recommended to consume garlic only to access its medicinal properties at the time of dire need.