Soma Purana

My yoga teacher made a profound statement one day in class. She said yoga is mostly unseen. I have been reflecting on this statement. Yoga generally has three main components, They are breathing, asanas, concentration/awareness. Asanas are externally observed and others can see it. Breathing is a technique and can be observed if the teacher looks at you closely. In a large class it is is difficult how well and correctly the students are breathing. But, the most important part of yoga, being aware and focused is totally unseen by the instructor or others. Only, the student practicing yoga knows it. 

I usually go for Bikram yoga in the morning (9:30AM class). Bikram requires consuming a lot of water an hour or two before yoga. Since I get up early anyway, this is not a problem for me. My morning fluid consumption involves the following. A large cup of coffee two large glasses of of ginger water one large glass of warm water with honey one large cup of tea I prepare ginger water as follows. I boil water. I add to it one or two inch slice ginger finely chopped. I add also one green chili finely chopped. I boil for couple more minutes. I filter the boiled finger water. Add a dash of Himalayan pink salt and squeeze one whole large lime. Add more water (about seven cups). I consume this during the day, mostly in the morning. Ginger has following benefits which are fairly well established through studies http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=72 effective in alleviating gastrointestinal distress reduces intestinal gas the biggest benefit is gin...

After learning a little about genetics and virology, I have come to the following conclusions. No organism  can live forever. All cells except neural cells need to be replaced at some point. This is done through cell replication. The mechanism of cell replication implies every time a cell replicates one end of each chromosome in the DNA genome called telomere is shortened. Eventually telomere is so short replication cannot occur. That starts the unavoidable decline and death. Neural cells cannot regenerate and therefore, evolution generally preserves these cells no matter what their condition is. All cells accumulate defects over time. These defects can be mutations in the genome or infections. There comes a point when the neurons have so much defect, even as they continue in the system, they are essentially non-functional. That starts the decline of brain health which includes memory and even the ability to control the functioning of the organism.

Not all cells and organs have the same degree of immune response. Some cells and organs cannot tolerate the accumulation of fluid, swelling, and inflammation and have naturally reduced immune response as a result. Examples are central nervous system, vitreous humor of the eye. Neurons don't regenerate and therefore have to block apoptosis. Some viruses take advantage of the reduced immuno response in these cells and organs and cause persistent infections. A type of persistent infection called latent infection can last the life time of the host. Many viruses attack the immune cells. HIV infects CD4 T-cells, macrophages, monocytes, and dendritic cells. Our body can replenish the immune cells and that is the reason AIDs is a very long persistent infection. After many years our body cannot make the immune cells in sufficient quantities leading to final collapse of our immune system and we finally die off of opportunistic infections.

We all give and take. I think what matters is the net. Some people give more than they take and some take more than they give. Quantifying this net is not easy. If you smile when you see another person, you both feel happy and there is only give for both. So, this is not necessarily a zero-sum game. Entropy of the universe increases with time no matter what. The question is do your actions accelerate the universal entropy increase? Or, do your actions help actually reduce the entropy? [I remember Samhita in my MAT251 - Calc III class coming at the end of the class to the desk and arranging neatly the quizzes strewn over the desk by other students. What a nice effort to reduce disorganization which works towards reducing entropy.] In general, a teacher, any teacher, gives more than he or she takes. Generally, people at the lower end of the economic scale like workers in restaurants, sanitation workers, a bus or train conductor give more than they take. A researcher gives mor...