Author: David Frawley
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: 392
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9788120836303
Description
Soma is one of the key words in the ancient traditions of India. It stands for all that is gentle, beautiful, delicate, and sweet of temperament. It is also a synonym for the Moon. A person is complimented by calling him/her saumya, moon-like. A saumya face, saumya mien is what one looks for in choosing a friend. When one looks at a saumya person, it generates the kind delight, the feeling of soft light that looking at the moon generates. This is a common idiom in all the languages of India.
This book weaves together the outer and inner search for immortality and transcendence of death and sorrow. It shows that an immortality in consciousness is our very nature - and that it is possible to prolong our outer lives by aligning ourselves to it.
The orientation of the book is practical, presenting comprehensive knowledge and special methods to heal and rejuvenate body and mind - and to resurrect the immortal spirit within us. Yet the book does require that we look at ourselves, examining our nature not simply as human beings, but as immortal souls.
The book rests upon a yogic view of who we are, what our greater existence is, the nature of mind and consciousness, and the place of our physical life within the context of many lives and incarnations.
What is the secret of Soma, the legendary mystic drink of immortality, first lauded by India's ancient Vedic seers? Is Soma a single plant, type of plants, a way of healing, a special intoxicant, or an inner elixir produced by Yoga and meditation? Going back to the vision of the Vedic seers, David Frawley reveals the secret of Soma for body, mind and spirit, with its profound implications from diet and herbs to pranayama, mantra and meditation.
His new analysis of Soma, reflecting forty years of study of Vedic texts, is practical, comprehensive and deeply insightful - so that you can bring the secret power of Soma into all aspects of your life and consciousness, and for the world as a whole.
EDITORIAL REVIEWS
Vamadeva’s tour of well-being, incisive and empirical, always comes back to us, to the goodness in our life. His understanding of the doshas and what each of us needs to find balance within and ward off disease is uncanny. This book’s fundamental message reminded me of Abraham Lincoln’s maxim: “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” The difference is, Vamadeva teaches us how to put the Divine life into all our days and years.
=Paramacharya Sadasivanatha Palaniswami, Hinduism Today, Editor-in-Chief
Soma in Yoga and Ayurveda weaves together with remarkable clarity rejuvenation of the body, revitalization of the mind, and awakening to the inherent immortality of the Spirit. The book reveals special healing secrets of Soma from the ancient Vedic rishis and yogis reflecting a profound vision and wide range of application that can transform both our individual lives and our collective culture. Vamadeva Shastri has provided one of the most important and original books on Yoga and Ayurveda in recent times that is bound to be studied for decades to come.
=Deepak Chopra, author ?Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul: How to Create a New Self
Once again, David Frawley has produced a book of unparalleled depth and insight. Soma in Yoga and Ayurveda synthesizes profound teachings and practices from Yoga, Tantra, Ayurveda, and Jyotish for rejuvenating the body, elevating emotions, awakening the intellect, and realizing the true meaning of immortality. Vamadeva is one of the few authentic voices sharing this transformational knowledge, making it available and accessible to the modern reader. I am continually grateful for his work.
=Gary Kraftsow, American Viniyoga Institute, author Yoga for Wellness and Yoga for Transformation
Soma in Yoga & Ayurveda cracks the secret code of “Soma” and de-mystifies the myth and logic about its practical application. Frawley has clearly outlined that the real fountain of Soma is well within you and tapping into that nourishment will make your life enlightened and blissful.
=Dr. Suhas Kshirsagar BAMS, MD (Ayu), ?Director, Ayurvedic Healing
Contents
Contents
Foreword Swami Veda Bharati
Author's Preface
Part I
The Search for Bliss, Longevity and Immortality
The Quest for Immortality
High Tech Somas or Inner Spiritual Somas?
Agni and Soma:
The Eternal Fire and the Immortal Nectar
Individual Constitution and Rejuvenation: The Role of the Three Doshas
Prana, Tejas and Ojas:
The Master or Soma Forms of the Doshas
Part II Soma Ayurveda:
Physical Rejuvenation and Longevity through Ayurveda
The Soma of Food:
Diet for Yoga and Longevity
Our Soma Drinks:
Rejuvenating Waters and Beverages
Rejuvenative Herbs and Soma Plants
Herbs to Rejuvenate the Mind
Soma Herbs and Aromatherapy
Rejuvenation and the Skin:
Ayurvedic Spa Therapies
Sexuality and Rejuvenation:
Balancing Shiva and Shakti
Your Inner Ecology:
Rejuvenation, Environment and Life-style
Preparing Yourself for Soma:
Preliminary Purification and Pancha Karma
Part III
Soma Yoga:
Rejuvenation of the Mind and Heart
Through Yoga and Meditation
Yoga and Inner Rejuvenation
The Yogic Soma and How to Prepare It
The Yamas and Niyamas of Yoga:
Conserving Your Inner Soma
Asana and Rejuvenation:
the Healing Power of Physical Stillness
Prana Rasayana:
the Immortal Breath of Soma
Pratyahara Rasayana:
Rejuvenation and the Sense and Motor Organs
Mantra Rasayana, The Rejuvenating
Power of Cosmic Sound and the Divine Word
Deity Rasayana:
the Rejuvenating Power of Devotion
Meditation, The Yoga of Knowledge
and Rejuvenation of the Mind
Part IV
Esoteric Soma Teachings
Vedic Astrology, Karma and Longevity:
The Influence of Time and Karma
The Search for the Original Soma Plant
Shiva as Nilakantha:
Turning Life's Poison into Soma
Selected Soma Verses from the Rigveda
Part V
Appendices: Glossary, Index, Resources
Sanskrit terms
Bibliography
Sanskrit Texts
Relevant Books by the Author
Resources
Comments on the Book
Endnotes
Index