Yoga, Karma, And Ayurveda - What Is The Meaning Of Prakriti?

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRAKRITI — UNDERSTANDING NATURE AND HARMONY'S FOUNDATION.
BEHAVIOR AND PRAKRITI.
PRAKRITI AND KARMA .
GETTING TO KNOW YOURSELF.
SATTVA FOR HARMONY AND BALANCE.
PERCEPTION OF OTHERS.
TEAMWORK AND PRAKRITI.
PERSONNEL SELECTION.
PROFESSION SELECTION BASED ON SAMSKARA, KARMA, AND PRAKRITI.

PRAKRITI — UNDERSTANDING NATURE AND HARMONY'S FOUNDATION.

Here, I'm addressing Prakriti, or your True Inner Nature and Essence.

Your prakriti is observed and manifest via your looks(outward appearance), base animalistic magnetism, behavioral inclinations or dispositions, lifestyle choices, current health, external environmental influences, and personality characteristics.

You know you should eat and live according to your prakriti, and the physical balance you strive to preserve via these multifaceted efforts also helps you maintain your mental equilibrium.

In the Samkhya system (darshan) of Indian philosophy, Prakriti ( meaning “nature,” or “source” in Sanskrit) is material nature in its primordial condition, everlasting and beyond perception.

When prakriti (female) comes into touch with purusha (male), a process of evolution begins, leading to the formation of the current material universe via various stages.

Prakriti is made up of three gunas (“matter qualities”), which are the cosmic elements that make up all of nature.

Simply prakriti is active in the Samkhya perspective, whereas the spirit is contained inside it and only watches and experiences.

The spirit's extrication from prakriti (moksha) is based on its own awareness of its complete distinction from it and non-involvement in it.

The word svabhava (“own being”) was employed in early Indian philosophical writings to denote material nature in a similar way to prakriti.

To this point, I've just discussed the basic function of prakriti on an individual level. This element of Ayurvedic knowledge may also be used to a group.

Working with this energy may help us establish a productive and pleasant work environment.

Personality conflicts slow down productivity and create an uncomfortable environment.

You may create a working group built on understanding and compassion for each other if you pay attention to the individuals you work with and attempt to understand them from their basic nature.

You may also employ individuals based on their suitability and competence to do a certain task.

You may also pair individuals together such that their personality types complement the rest of the group.

You can prevent a lot of workplace conflicts and irritations, which means you'll like your job and look forward to coming to work. Let's have a look at how it works in practice.

BEHAVIOR AND PRAKRITI.

"He's exactly like he was when he was a kid," we hear older parents remark lovingly of their middle-aged children's responses and conduct.

Couples often attempt to alter one other for the "better," thinking that the partner's personality would improve.

They eventually quit up, declaring, "I have given up; he or she will never change." If you look about you or watch yourself, you'll see that some patterns of behaving and reacting are ingrained in you.

For example, whether it's the doorbell, the phone, or responding to a question, you react in a certain manner.

If you are a vata-dominant per son, you will respond fast throughout your life.

The psychological characteristics of vata-dominant individuals remain a part of their existence until their final days of life under normal circumstances (non-pathological).

Similarly, kapha-dominant individuals have sluggish reaction times and responses, a difficulty to make fast choices, and a proclivity for deferring tasks until the following day.

Because their basic character is a part of who they are, you can't expect them to change into vata persons.

Those who are naturally impatient cannot wait for their meals, and if they must, they get annoyed and angry— the pitta-type.

The characteristics mentioned above are a component of an individual's prakriti, or basic nature.

This style of acting and behavior is a part of the individual since childhood.

All living creatures, are a mix of body and spirit.

The soul is a non-physical energy that is the source of consciousness.

Five components make up the material body.

When the five components are combined with the soul, a living creature emerges, with the need to execute all of the fundamental physical tasks.

The doshas, or the three humors, are in charge of this job. In other words, the five components combine to create the three humors, which is why I believe the most accurate translation of the doshas is "three vital forces of the body," rather than humors.

PRAKRITI AND KARMA .

Let's look at some deep elements of prakriti to figure out what's preset and what we can do to alter things.

Prakriti is determined by the constitution — sperm, ovum, uterus, mother's diet and behavior, time, and the mahabhutas (the five funda mental components), according to Charaka.

These are the conditions under which a person was born.

Who makes the decisions about our birth circumstances?

Prakriti, or even vikriti (since some individuals are born with an imbalance of the humors and are not healthy at birth), is derived from an individual's past karma, as well as previous karmic ties with other people, which put him or her into a certain birth circumstance.

Samskara is the sum total of all past karma, and it is because of your samskara that you have behaved in a certain way or had a certain passion from infancy.

This does not, however, imply that you are doomed to a certain future.

Your independence is based on your sense of discretion, which allows you to go on with your karma.

This implies you have the ability to substantiate your point based on the outcomes of previous actions.

Previous karma is referred to as daiva, while current karma is referred to as purushakara in Ayurveda.

You must strike a balance between your daiva and purushakara for good health, harmony, and serenity.

Your daiva offers a particular landscape, and you construct your present and future with personal work — or your current karma.

Even if you all respond differently on the job and come from various backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses, the individuals you work with create a sort of karmic group.

People that work together in major cities like Paris, London, Berlin, or New York come from many ethnic groups from all over the globe.

You must consider Karma while bringing Ayurveda to the workplace.

You may bring peace and harmony to the group and learn to work together more effectively if you understand your karma.

You will remain healthy if you work properly since you will not be annoyed by your colleagues! Let's have a look at what you can do to foster this understanding and peace.

When I say "harmony," please understand that I mean "harmony with the nature of your job," "harmony with the location where you work," and "harmony with the group of which you are a member."

GETTING TO KNOW YOURSELF.

It would be beneficial if everyone in the work group took the time to learn about their constitutional type.

That is unlikely to happen. However, if you want to take control of your life, you must become conscious of your own habits and conduct in relation to your prakriti.

Only then will you be able to appreciate the freedom you have inside a particular framework.

You will be able to help others in the same manner if you get to know yourself in terms of your prakriti and watch your behaviors and responses closely.

This method will allow you to observe yourself without being too involved, since the basic concept of prakriti allows you to recognize your limitations and understand that time is not confined to one lifetime or the brief boundaries of your memory.

You also learn to watch people within their limits, with greater compassion and sympathy, as a result of this knowledge.

Despite the limitations of your basic nature, each of you may maintain your balance and achieve inner peace and harmony with your current karma.

Peace and harmony must begin with everyone of you separately in a specific activity atmosphere.

Then you'll be able to open up and cope with your connections with others.

One of the most important skills you can bring to a job is knowing where you belong in.

By taking the time to accomplish this, you may drastically alter your circumstances.

I'm certain you've discovered your basic essence, or prakriti.

In the current situation, it is critical to examine your behaviors and responses in order to create positive adjustments.

Keep in mind that prakriti transforms into vikriti, and your conduct may alter throughout the vikriti (non-health) cycle.

It's essential not to mistake your "regular" prakriti with vikriti if you're trapped in a vikriti mood for an extended period of time.

Let's say your life becomes very busy, you're having trouble sleeping, you're yawning during the day, and you're making rash choices. This is a vikriti condition.

It's conceivable that you're a vata type who suffers from vata diseases due to a lack of vata.

It's also possible that your prakriti isn't vata at all, but rather the result of an overly vata lifestyle.

To figure out your prakriti, go back to your childhood behavior and reactions.

In any instance, whether your prakriti is due to the dominance of the same out-of-balance humor or you have vikriti owing to another humor, you should first and foremost restore your health.

Assume you are a healthy individual with vata prakriti.

Your vata vitiates when there are vata weather conditions, such as high winds, or when you didn't get enough sleep, or when you were at a party till late at night, or when you ate the incorrect food.

You feel confused and anxious, irritable and easily agitated, and make rash choices when in this condition.

In terms of your work, this sort of energy isn't conducive to efficiency.

You must learn to recognize these variables and take the appropriate measures to prevent yourself from harming your body.

Furthermore, you should be aware that when you are not at your best, you should refrain from making critical choices.

You should be able to assess your shortcomings and defects and put them into context.

As a writer, for example, if I discover, either through students or on my own, that I have made a mistake or written instructions in such a way that my students were unable to understand what I was trying to teach, I investigate the circumstances in which I wrote that particular copy in order to determine the factors that influenced my work that day.

Was it an angry phone call I got while I was writing, which proved to be a stumbling block in my communication?
Was it the extreme heat or vata vitiation?
Why didn't I maintain my sattva state while working?

Analyzing the past will enable us to rectify our errors and avoid repeating them in the future.

You are all aware that there are days when nothing seems to go as planned.

You're not very productive at work, and you're also not particularly pleasant.

There are times when you recognize this and say, "Well, since I was up late last night, or because I didn't digest my meal well, or because I didn't sleep very well owing to whatever reason, and so on." "I don't understand why I'm like this today," you may remark at other times.

During one menstrual cycle, women's humors may alter, and their behavior may change as a result.

There are also many elements that may take you from a state of health (prakriti) to a state of non-health (vikriti). This has an impact on both your job and your interactions with people.

When you recognize that you are out of balance, you should attempt to restore your health using all reasonable techniques available.

The issue may also be dealt with on a mental level.

Even when you are out of balance, you should always do your hardest: this is achievable with a sattvic mental state.

When you are not in touch with your environment and have some subjective symptoms of illness, you may bring bad energy into the workplace, either directly or indirectly.

You may potentially start a cycle of issues at work without realizing what's causing them.

You've all had days when you remark to yourself, "Nothing works today!" The serenity and quiet of your thoughts may assist or prevent you from starting a sequence of unpleasant responses at these moments.

When you become conscious that you are not functioning at your best, you may call on your spiritual energy to assist you in this difficult circumstance.

Spiritual energy is a latent reservoir of energy inside us.

You awaken this dormant reservoir of energy by momentarily closing your senses to the outer world and stopping this line of thinking.

In reality, the soul's vitality isn't really "dormant" in the traditional meaning of the term.

The spiritual force is constantly flowing from the soul, but worldly activities — which are dominated by rajas and tamas — create a blanket of darkness over it and obstruct its path.

When you use personal effort and different yoga techniques to quiet your mind, the blanket of darkness dissipates, and you are led by energy from the soul.

The tamasic characteristics (anger, impatience, jealousy, intolerance, etc.) vanish with the aid of this energy, and you are able to exhibit the virtues of compassion, love, tolerance, and so on.

You may make an attempt to summon your sattvic energy to counteract undesirable characteristics that may be related to a brief condition of vikriti with some simple exercises.

However, every effort should be made to move away from vikriti and into prakriti.

If the different humors are out of balance, you may take the following urgent steps.

Try to obtain quick rehef by drinking something hot, rubbing your ears, or sending prana to your head area if you have vata vitiation.

Drink cold water or any cooling beverage if you have pitta vitiation, apply sandalwood paste to your forehead, and send prana energy to your solar plexus.

If you're suffering from kapha vitiation, attempt some strenuous motions or quick walking, as well as rapid breathing exercises.

SATTVA FOR HARMONY AND BALANCE.

Sattva not only aids in the development of good characteristics when in vikriti, but also in bringing balance and harmony to daily life.

Tolerance, love, and compassion are characteristics that contribute to a group's mutual understanding and support.

On the one hand, these characteristics are essential for improving group efficiency, while on the other hand, they are necessary for individual originality.

You will make errors no matter what the nature of your job is if you are angry, annoyed, or unhappy.

One blunder leads to another, creating a vicious cycle of annoyance and rage.

What I'm trying to say is that you should cultivate your mind's sattvic quality even if you're in perfect equilibrium.

There are specific things that "we tend to do" in each of the seven kinds of prakritis.

That is to say, each prakriti has its own set of negative traits, such as irritability, lethargy, intolerance, discontent, and so on.

These characteristics may not show themselves in everyday life, but they may be elicited in a certain scenario.

Even in highly charged situations, you should make an effort to maintain your balance by invoking sattva.

I've included a few basic techniques that may be useful in this regard.

To Achieve a Sattva State of Mind, Practice Breathing and Concentration

1. Take a deep breath and direct prana energy into your solar plexus.

Allow it to remain there for as long as you can while focusing on the plexus area, which is where the soul resides.
Slowly and gently exhale.
Hold the lungs without air until all of the air has been expelled, while concentrating on the solar area.
This should be done three times.
Pronounce the mantra "OM shanti" at the conclusion of each breathing practice (universal peace, harmony, and stillness).

2. Repeat the practice, but this time direct the prana energy to the head.

In the same manner, repeat the "OM shanti" mantra.
Repeat three times.

3. Send prana energy to every area of your body during this last and third practice.

The energy should first travel from your head, then through your arms up to your hands, via your thorax and ab dominal area, and finally through your legs to your feet and toes.
Hold your breath and exhale gently and smoothly, allowing your energy to flow freely throughout your body.
Recite this mantra three times, remembering to say "OM shanti" each time.
Breathing nine times is part of these workouts.
In between, you may take a few more breaths.
It should take you no more than seven minutes to complete everything.

PERCEPTION OF OTHERS.

You will begin to understand vikriti conduct once you have taught yourself to watch your acts and re actions in the context of your basic nature, or prakriti.

At this stage, it's normal to see other individuals who share your viewpoint.

It's a good idea to collaborate with your coworkers in the framework of their basic character.

For example, if you have a vata personality and work with a kapha personality, don't get annoyed by their sluggish speed.

Learn to have patience and consider the gradual development this individual may make as you move forward.

People don't operate at your speed for a variety of reasons.

Perhaps your colleague is dealing with personal issues.

Consider one of your coworkers who is dreamy and absent-minded, who seems miserable, and who is unquestionably unproductive at work.

This individual irritates you often. You hear from another colleague one day that this individual used to be extremely productive at work and always had a pleasant demeanor.

She lost her 12-year-old kid in a car accident two years ago, and she hasn't been the same since.

Your perspective about your coworker changes after hearing this sad tale, and you become more understanding and compassionate.

Similarly, even if you are unaware of it, you may attempt to understand people who may have had previous life experiences in their own context.

When people strive to understand one other's responses in the workplace, a sense of unity develops, and the group works on a more intimate level.

This will motivate you to assist one another and to love and care for one another.

My personal experience has shown that understanding others in the context of their prakriti has the benefit of reducing self-involvement and allowing individuals to accept their so-called negative characteristics without feeling ashamed, touchy, or sensitive.

The group learns that some personality characteristics are connected to physiological responses and behavior patterns, and that pointing this out is not a form of condemnation.

People also do not feel powerless since they recognize that there is a method to improve oneself that involves a shift in mindset or dietary habits.

Let me give you an example to explain my point.

In a group lecture, it is often difficult to call out people's personality characteristics.

When I explain the three humors and how they operate at the body/mind level, however, the students begin to recognize and acknowledge their own unique qualities.

They don't attempt to explain themselves by claiming that their rage is caused by the actions of others.

When I suggest that kapha individuals put off work till the following day, or that they are daydreamers or sluggish, people readily accept it if they fit into this group.

They are ecstatic about the idea that they can change these traits by altering the foods they consume and incorporating certain yoga exercises into their daily routine, among other things.

They no longer believe that their body and mind are two distinct things, or that they are in charge of their responses when they actually require nutritional advice.

In a manner, the underlying emotions of guilt and self-blame are removed utilizing Ayurvedic knowledge of prakriti and personality types.

People get a new feeling of independence and may begin to identify their own and others' traits.

Knowing each other's prakriti may assist you cope with workplace interactions.

There is a time and a place for everything.

For example, you never ask a pitta person a question or discuss other work issues just before lunch.

These individuals cannot tolerate hunger and get easily enraged just before a meal.

Also, keep an eye on how you deal with pitta individuals when they come inside after being out in the sun.

In windy conditions, Vata individuals get quickly tired.

Allow them to unwind a little when they arrive at work while the wind is blowing.

The kapha people are influenced by rainy, gloomy, dark winter days, therefore if you want to hold an important business meeting with them, invite them for a hot and spicy dinner.

A rudimentary education in Ayurvedic knowledge may help to start a fruitful path of mutual understanding.

People are sometimes perplexed by this style of thinking because it is so unlike to the mechanistic view of the world, body, mind, personality, and behavior.

In every corporate scenario, a few easy changes may help create a more human and loving atmosphere, which leads to increased productivity and creativity.

TEAMWORK AND PRAKRITI.

People in management positions may use these Ayurvedic principles to ensure that the appropriate people are in the right locations for effective management and productivity.

They should look at people's prakriti before employing them for a certain position in this direction.

For example, kapha people don't work well at night; pitta individuals don't perform well in hot nations doing field labor; and vata people don't work well outdoors in cold regions.

Jobs that demand patience and tolerance will fit kapha personalities better.

Pitta persons aren't often suited to such occupations.
Vata individuals thrive in environments where fast responses are required.

Management should avoid placing too many individuals of the same kind together when forming groups.

An all-vata group may be confusing; add some kaphas to balance things out.

When there are too many pittas together, particularly during the heat, it may lead to rage.

An exclusive club of kaphas may create a sluggish environment in which nothing gets done fast.

It is important to combine the various prakritis at work to prevent storm (vata), fire (pitta), and flood (kapha) situations.

When working in pairs, however, avoid combining vata and kapha, since vata and pitta will be far more creative.

PERSONNEL SELECTION.

It may be extremely helpful to observe the prakriti of new workers.

It may assist you determine if the personality is appropriate for the kind of work you are providing, in addition to technical credentials.

A profession that requires a lot of travel, for example, is not appropriate for kapha types since they are primarily house lovers.

They may take the position and tell you that they are qualified, but there is a chance that they may get frustrated, which will ultimately impact their performance.

Because of their impatience, Pitta persons may not be suited for retail sales management.

Sales may fit kapha individuals better since they have greater patience and tolerance.

When interacting with the general population, these two characteristics, patience and tolerance, are crucial.

When we go to a job interview to recruit a new employee, we carry a lot of things with us.

People who are hiring should be aware of the nature of the position, the specifics of the job description, and the other members of the team with whom they will be working.

It's also crucial to understand how to assess individuals based on their outer look and conduct.

The appearance of the skin, eyes, nails, and hair will reveal a variety of traits that may be used to classify people.

The way individuals speak and respond in conversation provides more information.

Although kapha individuals are sluggish to respond, they are less likely to misinterpret your remark than vata people are.

By the time you reach the conclusion of a lengthy phrase, or if you speak about some element of the work for too long, fine-featured pitta types may indicate impatience — via facial expression.

PROFESSION SELECTION BASED ON SAMSKARA, KARMA, AND PRAKRITI.

It would be beneficial if parents carefully watched their children and paid attention to the interests that "came from inside them," so that they could assist the children in choosing a career that was appropriate for them.

Each of us has a unique samskara and therefore prakriti.

It's possible that parents and children or siblings have different professional interests.

It's very unusual for two siblings to have quite different interests and pursue careers in completely different areas.

Parents should not force their own views on their children when it comes to choosing a career.

Many parents feel compelled to impose a career on their children based on values such as "family honor or prestige," or simply the "convenience aspect" of an already established profession.

As a result, not only do these people suffer for the rest of their lives as a result of being in the incorrect profession, but the harm is also compensated in far greater amounts.

It has an impact on our whole society because those in the incorrect profession will continue to be frustrated on the job.

Their general unhappiness will have an impact on their relationships with the individuals they deal with. In reality, this is a really important topic. You want to recruit individuals who will be pleased and productive as an employee and with their employer.

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