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Ahara Vihara Achara Vichara

A spiritual discourse on the yogic sheaths (kośas) and principles for holistic well-being.

"Jaisā khāyegā ann, vaisā rahegā man: As the food you eat, so will be your mind."

"Therefore, it is said you must take care of four things: āhāra, vihāra, ācāra, and vicāra."

The speaker, likely a yoga or Ayurveda teacher, explains the first sheath, the annamaya kośa (food body), and the factors that sustain it. He details the profound influence of diet, drink, and company (sang), expanding into the four pillars of health: nourishment (āhāra), recreation (vihāra), conduct (ācāra), and thought (vicāra). Using proverbs, personal anecdotes, and humor about dietary limits, he emphasizes the role of intellect in achieving happiness, concluding with a brief mention of the next sheath, the prāṇamaya kośa (energy body).

Recording location: Australia, Melbourne

In Yoga, the first sheath is described as the annamaya kośa. Kośa means a sheath, layer, or container—like a room made of bricks, tin, or timber. The annamaya kośa is composed of the five elements we spoke of yesterday, brought together: earth, water, air, fire, and space. All these five elements can be supported and kept healthy through diet. Jaisā khāyegā ann, vaisā rahegā man: As the food you eat, so will be your mind. What kind of liquid you drink, so will you speak. If you drink nice, fresh orange juice, apple juice, milk, or water, you will speak nicely; you are clear in your mind completely. But if you drink two or three glasses of that other juice which is a little old—a few years old—what they call whiskey or something, and then try to speak or give a lecture, it will be very funny. So, what you eat and what you drink: jaisā khāī ann, vaisāy rahe man, jaisā pīye pānī, vaisāy bole bānī. And aur jaisā karegā saṅg, vaisāy lagegā raṅg: in what kind of society you are, that kind of color you will take over. "Color" here means habits. If you are with someone who is abusing alcohol, sooner or later you will become alcoholic. If someone is taking drugs, you will become a drug person; if you are with the riders, one day you will also become a rider. So, the company you keep is very important. Or, if you are a stronger personality, you may help the other to overcome habits like alcohol or drugs. These three things—diet, drink, and company—are very important. Therefore, it is said again in yogic principle. Yogic principles are Āyurvedic principles, and Āyurvedic principles are yogic principles. Imagine there is one bird that has to fly with two wings, and both wings must be in balance. One wing is Āyurveda and the other is Yoga, and you are the individual self who can feel happy and safe in this body. Therefore, it is said you must take care of four things: āhāra, vihāra, ācāra, and vicāra. Āhāra means diet, food. Vihāra means where to go and where not to go, when to go and when not to go. Ācāra means behavior, our appearance and conduct toward other people or society. If you would like others to respect you, first you should respect them. So, our behavior is very important. Vicāra means thinking. We should always have good thoughts, good thinking, creative thinking, positive thinking—first toward yourself. Don't think, "I'm lonely, someone has left me, no one loves me, oh God, it's a miserable life and I don't want to live." Many come to me with letters, friends, or disciples saying such things. When you say, "Yes, I am lonely," then you are lonely. There was a man meditating on the golden Gold Coast beach for about two hours. Another man, working in his garden and looking from his house, thought this man must be very lonely, sitting so long alone without doing anything. He went to him and said, "Excuse me, sir, good morning, how are you?" The meditator replied, "I'm fine, how are you?" After the formal talk, the visitor said, "Actually, I came to you because I felt very sorry for you." "Why? What happened?" "I'm thinking you are very lonely. Aren't you lonely?" The meditator said, "Yes, I am lonely since you are here. Before, I was one with myself." Our own thinking can create many troubling disturbances and unpleasant things. Therefore: āhāra, vihāra, ācāra, and vicāra. Āhāra is nourishment, vihāra is where to go and where not to go, ācāra is behavior, and vicāra is positive, good thinking. That will keep all our different bodies healthy. Therefore: good food, limited food. But it is very hard to eat less. My grandmaster said that to forgive and to eat less is not an easy job. Recently, we had an international Āyurveda conference in Sydney where I was invited. I didn't know that much about Āyurveda—we have many experts here—but the professor of Āyurveda from India was there. He said, "The maximum you should eat is what comes in your hands when you fold both hands; that's all, that's enough." I said, "That's for me just an appetizer." I asked him, "Can we make the hand like this?" He said, "You can do this, but the rest will fall down, everything." So, eat when you are hungry. But when are we hungry? This is the question. These things are not easy. But if we would like to be healthy and happy, then things are very easy. The difficulty is in saying no to oneself. If you like ice cream very much and you say, "No, I don't eat," it's very hard work. So, this physical body. If this physical body is here, then you are also here. East or west, north or south, above or below, Australia or another continent—they exist only if you are here. Everything that exists in this world, beautiful things, good things, enjoyable things or terrible things, anything is here as long as we are here. Out of 8.4 million different creatures, one is a human being, which we spoke of in detail yesterday. The human has intellect, and through this intellect, a human can save their life and be healthy and happy. So, the most powerful tool we have is our buddhi, our intellect. This is the annamaya kośa. Then comes the prāṇamaya kośa, the energy body. Prāṇa is not oxygen. Prāṇa is something beyond the physical level, but you may say the best part of it is the radiance of the physical energy that we have. Recording location: Australia, Melbourne

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt, what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

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