EE7.5 - Explanatory Notes

Explanatory Notes

Published in:
Yogic Treatments and Natural Remedies

Notes:

this version: is the Yogic Treatments, 4th edition, version (obvious spelling, punctuation and typographical mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition.

Online additional information

1. Where no English term could be found for a medicinal plant or other item mentioned in the text, the item has been left in Bengali, and the scientific name or other explanation has been provided in the Bengali Glossary at the end of the book. In a few cases, no English name or scientific name could be found.

Scientific names also follow, in brackets, English plant names which might not be universally understood. (When such a scientific name follows an English term for a plant, patients are advised to identify their local plants by the scientific name before beginning treatment.)

Both Bengali words and Sanskrit words have been set in italics. Translations of Sanskrit words have also been provided in brackets following the word, except for ásanas, which are explained in Caryácarya Part III (Shrii Shrii Ánandamúrti, Caryácarya Part III [Ánandanagar: Ánanda Márga Pracáraka Samgha, 1979]).

The Sanskrita words púrńimá, amávasyá and ekádashii mean, respectively, the day of the full moon, the day of the new moon, and the eleventh day after either the full moon or the new moon.

2. The tola and the seer, Indian units of weight, have been used in this book. 1 tola = 11.664 grams. 1 seer = 80 tolas = 933.12 grams. 1 seer water at 4 degrees C occupies 0.93312 litre.

3. This book makes reference to the framework of ayurvedic medicine. Ayurveda considers the body to be composed of seven elements, or materials, derived one from the other in the following order: rasa, or chyle (the fluid essence of digested food), blood, flesh, fat, bone marrow, and shukra (for a definition of shukra, please see the Bengali Glossary). The body functions on the basis of three factors, or principles: váyu, pitta and kapha (please see the Bengali Glossary).

4. The term “non-vegetarian food” as used throughout the book should be understood to indicate meat, fish and eggs. Dairy products are not considered non-vegetarian.

5. The term “curd-water”, used frequently in the book, denotes a thin mixture of curd (yoghurt) in water.

6. Upaviśt́a Ud́d́ayana Mudrá is Ud́d́ayana Mudrá done kneeling, with the buttocks on the soles of the feet, and hands on the knees.