the same as the energy of all the stars, all the light. These cosmic energies, radiated by plants, thus nourish, support, and stimulate growth of our own astral body.

In this respect, plant life is a magnificent offering and a great sacrifice. They offer us not only their inherent nutritional value, but in the truest sense of the word, the light and love of the stars from space, whose messengers they are. They bring us the light of the universe so that we can merge with the life of the universe. Thus, they exist both for the purposes of psychological and physical nutrition. It follows that our senses are our "inner" plants, our "inner" flowers. They grow according to our understanding of the nature of all life.

Creation is light. In the Vedas, the ancient chronicles of India, the great god Agni, the root cause of fire, the Divine soothsayer - Will creates worlds and allows the universe to enter into a cycle of self-transformations.

The purpose of plants is to turn light into life. The purpose of people is to turn life into consciousness, into love. These three elements - light, life and love - are one thing, one of them is an expression of the other, three dimensions of one and the same existence. Plants turn light into life through photosynthesis. Man transforms life into consciousness through perception, through the act of direct perception the prophet who contemplates becomes the object of contemplation, the observer becomes the object of observation. The Sanskrit name for the plant, osadhi, literally means "vessel" or "consciousness", dhi, in which the burning transformation takes place, osa. In Velah, this can mean not only plants, but also all elements of existence.

Man is a plant bearing consciousness. The plant, which carries out a similar process at a "lower level" of evolution, nourishes our consciousness and nervous system, thus facilitating this process. At the highest levels, as well as at the lower levels, the entire universe is a metamorphosis of light.

In the outer myrrh, the central sun is the source of light and life. In the inner world, too, the centrally located sun is the source of life. This inner sun is our true Self, what the ancients called Purusha or Atman. Plants ensure our communion with the energy of the outer sun, while our inner plant, our nervous system realizes our communion with the inner sun. The creation of a proper connection between the outer plant and the inner plant thus completes the circuit of light. and life, and establishes a free flow of consciousness, in which consciousness is liberated, that is, it unites one sun with another, reunites the external with the internal, turns our life into a true celebration of delight.

When plants or herbs are used properly, and their true power is released, this means communicating with them. When we communicate with a plant, as it were, merge with it, it vitalizes our nervous system and gives strength to our perception. This means that we see in the plant a value, akin to sacred, we see in it a means of communication with all of nature. Thus, like mantras, each plant helps to actualize the potential of the cosmic life it represents.

For this reason, many ancient peoples deeply revered the vegetable kingdom. The corresponding feeling was not at all imbued with prejudice, awe, or a simple perception of beauty. It was determined by the perception of the power that plants give us. At the same time, the corresponding force is not exhausted by that fraction of it that is associated with eating a plant, but is due to all our communication with it.

The prophets of ancient India approached healing and herbs from the standpoint of just such a consciousness. Their science was not a science based on experiment, but was in the form of direct participation. Experimentation means a certain emphasis, a distance between the observer and the object of observation. subject and object. As a result, experimentation involves mediation, measurement, translation into another "language". During the anatomical examination of the corpse, penetration into the soul is excluded. Direct perception or meditation is the subject of the science of the yogi. Yoga allows the essence, the immanent element, to manifest. When this is done, the material and spiritual potential fully reveals itself.

The respective prophets, thanks to the yoga of perception, could hear what the plants were saying. And the plants were discovering their secrets, many of which are far more sophisticated than the possibilities of chemical analysis. And if we approach plants today from the same perspective - not as a means to our egocentrism, but as an integral component of our true unity, then the true value of the plant will serve us as a grateful user.

Thus, to become a true herbalist, one must become a "prophet." It means to feel the nature of the plant. Communicate, being imbued, ready for perception, for acceptance by the consciousness of the light of the universe emitted by plants. It also means learning to listen when the plant speaks, to talk to the plant as to another person, and to see it as your teacher.
ORIGINS OF AYURVEDA MEDICINE

Spiritual origins

To understand Ayurveda's approach to herbs, it is necessary to understand the fundamental systems of Ayurveda, which is a comprehensive science of healing, including the physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of life.

The ancient prophets of India believed that there are two fundamental principles that determine being: Purusha, Primal Spirit, the principle of sensitivity of consciousness; Prakruti, Great Nature, the principle of creativity. The unity of these two Spirit and Matter creates everything.

However, these two principles are also one, they represent the primary Two in One, Consciousness and its creative, executive power, Shiva-Shakti - Purusha. In everything there is also the power of manifestation, the ability to unfold creatively, Prakruti.

From these two great forces, when they first unite, the Cosmic Consciousness arises - Mahakt, which contains the seeds of all manifestations. The immanent property of Mahakt are all the laws of nature. Cosmic Consciousness also exists in man in the form of his intellect. This beginning, as such, is called buddhi, the means to awakening, to full development, upon reaching which the corresponding person becomes enlightened - the Buddha. Buddhi is our ability to perceive, our ability to distinguish the real from the unreal.

However, this intelligence, when it evolves into material forms, can lead to the emergence of an ego, a feeling of separateness of one's Self, or ahamkara. This is the principle of alienation, since the only thing that separates us from the unity of life is our sense of the separateness of our "I".

In turn, "I", "ego" conditions the formation, leads to the formation of conditioned consciousness, or conditioned understanding, called "manas", which, like a sense of self-consciousness, creates a protective circle (field) of thoughts that binds us.

Finally, it connects us to the collective subconscious, called hitta, which is the "warehouse" of thoughts inherent in any limited mentality. Thanks to Shitta, we remain subject to latency, obsessions and imperatives inherent in earlier stages of evolution, going back to the animal kingdom, and even earlier stages of development.

Ayurveda strives for a life that would be in harmony with the cosmic intellect (consciousness), thanks to which our consciousness would be more perfect and would thereby make it possible for us to return to the unity of nature, and through nature - a return to our true being and spirit, Purusha. These are the spiritual origins of Ayurveda, which are identical to that of yoga, and form the basis of the psychology of Ayurveda.

A necessary condition for this is the awakening of the intellect, which, in turn, means getting out of the control of the ego. The ego is the basis of any deviation from nature. Health is a natural attribute, prakruti. Illness is something artificial - twist it. Hence, most diseases, with the exception of those that are natural, as an attribute of time, stem from a psychological imbalance due to excessive self-consciousness.
THREE GUNS

Prakruti consists of three fundamental qualities, three main characteristics (called gunas in Sanskrit): sattva, the principle of light, perception, intellect and harmony; rajas, the principle of energy, activity, emotion and restlessness; and tamas, the principle of inertia, darkness, despondency, lifelessness and resistance.

Although each of these three qualities is a necessary element of nature, nevertheless, sattva is an adequate quality of consciousness. Rajas and tamas, on the contrary, are alien, "polluting" elements of consciousness that reduce our ability to perceive.

Sattva-dominated individuals emphasize such imperatives as truth, honesty, modesty, and the common good. Those who have the most rajas present value strength, prestige, power and the ability to rule the most. The same people in whom tamas dominates find themselves in captivity of feelings of fear, servility, ignorance and forces leading to disintegration.

From this it is clear that it is important to strive for a style of life that corresponds mainly to the sattvic type. Since these three qualities exist in all nature, it is important use types of food and herbs that are mostly sattvic in nature. In this regard, Ayurveda classifies plants according to these three gunas.

This does not mean that herbs belonging to the rajasic and tamatic types should not be used at all. Since sattva is in a state of equilibrium with rajas and tamas, herbs of the rajasic type can be used to correct tamasic conditions, and vice versa. However, herbs of a sattvic nature have an independent value in terms of stimulating the development of consciousness.
FIVE ELEMENTS

From the three gunas, five elements are formed. From sattva, consisting of clarity, the element ether is formed.