Imagine you are sitting under a huge, spreading banyan tree. It’s a burning hot day so you feel relieved and cool in the shade of this ancient tree. The light is soft, the air is fresh and pleasing, the atmosphere is hushed. You feel protected, not just from the heat and glare but in a comforting way that feels very personal. The curling aerial roots hang down like blessings reaching towards you. It’s fascinating. It beckons you to linger, to savor the sense of timelessness and subtle wisdom.
This is where the practices for Vaṭa Sāvitrī full moon bring us.
Traditionally, it is women who celebrate this occasion. It begins by observing upavāsa, a somewhat gentle fast aimed at cultivating a sense of purity, clarity and spiritual sensitivity. Some people fast like this for three days in advance, others just on the full moon day. Wearing fresh, even festive, clothes, they visit a banyan tree where they offer fresh fruits and flowers, and pour water at the base of the tree: a life-sustaining gift.
Taking a ball of red, yellow or white thread, they tie it carefully around and around the trunk of the tree, literally making a connection and binding their prayers and dreams to the tree. These prayers are for the wellbeing of their beloved and their loved ones. While the focus is traditionally on prayers for the health and longevity of a spouse, family members and loved ones are also included.
Then they circumambulate the tree while continuing these prayers, and sit to listen to or read the story of Sāvitrī. The practice here is to contemplate how she brought her husband back from death under a banyan tree through her love, wisdom and fearlessness, and to feel renewed, encouraged and enriched.
This probably all seems like a quaint midsummer ritual. Yet as we look at it closely, you will see it is filled with spoken and unspoken wisdom.
Here we will look at the Ayurvedic wisdom behind the prasāda for this ritual, and also at the rejuvenating power of this practice as a whole: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
What you pictured at the beginning is a glimpse of something I love about Vaṭa Sāvitrī Pūrṇimā: the practices take place in nature, under the branches of a banyan tree.
Both the setting and the ritual offerings are forms of prasāda, sacred gifts. They convey both subtle blessings and a beautiful healing potency. They soothe and refresh not only your physical body and senses amidst the intense heat of summer, but also your mind and spirit. From the perspective of Ayurveda, the whole experience is medicine in itself.
Since long before the divinely inspired wisdom of the Indian subcontinent had been written down, the banyan tree or vaṭavrkṣa (वटवृक्ष) has been revered as sacred, and its shade has been sought out by everyone from sages to merchants to weary travelers.
And for as long as the wisdom of Ayurveda has been spoken of, the vaṭavrkṣa has been sought out for the healing potency of its leaves, aerial roots and bark. But their value in healing wounds and burns, gums and fertility problems are not actually the focus of Vaṭa Sāvitrī practices.
In fact, as we examine these particular mid-summer observances from the perspective of Ayurveda, we get a sense of how the embrace of Ayurveda’s wisdom is also like a huge, spreading banyan tree. It includes so much more than herbal medicines and warm oil treatments, eating kitchadi, and attuning ourselves closely to the pattern of the seasons.
For example, in the Vaṭa Sāvitrī practices, we get a glimpse a branch of Ayurvedic healing called sattvavajaya cikitsā (सत्त्ववजय चिकित्सा), remedies for winning over the mind. These practices are like elixirs for cultivating strength of mind and character. They help us develop increasing harmony, contentment and spiritual awareness.
Even if you are not able to actually perform the practices for Vaṭa Sāvitrī Pūrṇimā, you can enrich your understanding by learning here in Part 1 about:
In Part 2 we will take a close look at:
As ग्रीष्म ऋतु (grīshma ṛtu), summer sets in, the progressively warmer, longer days begin making things hot and dry around us and inside us. The sunshine is energizing at first. But gradually you can find yourself feeling overheated and thirsty.
For some people this means really dry skin, hot rashes or extra unpleasant body odor. For others it’s constipation, or diarrhea or burning urination. And for still others it can mean burning eyes, tiredness or feeling irritable and impatient.
In the language of Ayurveda, the excess kapha that brought us allergy episodes and wet, sticky colds in spring has come into balance, thanks to the dry heat. Now it is vāta, the airy force that is constantly moving, and pitta, the internal fire, that are accumulating.
According to the way Ayurveda calculates the seasons, based on the proximity of the sun, in the northern hemisphere summer extends from mid-May to mid-July. In places like California, where these hot months aren’t followed by monsoon rains, summer, in effect, lasts until mid-September. (In the Southern Hemisphere, summer would be mid-November to mid-February.
To balance the internal stampede of dryness and heat, we can find protection in the power of opposites. Specifically we do this by focusing on six qualities in the food we eat and what we expose our mind and senses to.
The first is sweetness. It is moist and cooling. Among the six tastes, it is the only one that balances both vāta and pitta. Eating sweet, मधुर (madhura) foods doesn’t mean you should dessert instead of regular meals. In Ayurveda, the idea of sweetness encompasses all kinds of nourishing foods: ghee, grains, dairy products, starchy vegetables, and of course seasonal fruits.
It’s also helpful to be around the sweet fragrance of flowers and incense.
The second quality is that the food we eat should be लघु (laghu), light to digest. This is important because our digestive fire is significantly weaker in summer. With the sun in close proximity, our bodies turn the inner fire down low to help us stay cool.
People who follow an Ayurveda lifestyle tend to eat light foods like mung dal, rice and cilantro regularly throughout summer. Enjoying seasonal fruits is a big focus. They also sip on thin buttermilk infused with rose and cardamom.
You definitely want to avoid eating big, heavy meals as though it’s Thanksgiving.
Even too many raw salads put a burden on your digestion in summer, especially when they are vegetables like cabbage and cauliflower that are usually cooked. Chew them extra well if that’s your only option.
The third quality may be less intuitive: summer food should be स्निग्ध (snigdha), a little oily, softening and smooth. Clearly this isn’t a recommendation for deep fried food, which is heavy to digest, but for cooking food in a little ghee or coconut oil. This is another important way to counteract dryness from inside, and keep your digestive fire as strong as possible.
It also refers to oil massage, which is a great way for your body to drink up soft, nourishing lubrication through your skin.
Fourthly comes हिम (hima), the cooling quality. No, it doesn’t mean adding lots of ice to the things we drink. That really dampens and weakens your digestion. Nor does it mean running the air conditioner all day. The best place to start is by creating coolness from inside.
You can do this by eating light, naturally sweet foods and gentle digestive spices that keep us from heating up internally. Think of cucumbers, coconut water, coriander and fennel seeds, for example.
Externally, explore spending time in cool environments like forests, gardens and riverbanks. The classical texts of Ayurveda praise the value of spending time in the shade of tall, spreading trees in summer. Not only is it cool in these places, but it also gives our senses relief from the taxing heat, glare and dryness of summer.
Fifthly, things that are liquid and fluid, द्रव (drava) are the friends we’re always looking for during the hot, sultry days and nights of summer. It can feel like every sip of water or juice is reviving our life force. So Ayurveda advises us to take it further and also choose foods that are moist, juicy and even soupy over dry foods. Along with this comes the welcome advice to seek out moist environments amongst dense trees or beside the ocean or a river.
The sixth quality is staying calm, śānta (शान्त), revelling in a peaceful state of mind. Long, scorching summer days have a way of making many of us feel frayed and impatient. At the same time, getting agitated and upset makes us feel even more hot and uncomfortable. Making an effort to stay calm softens that taxing edge.
One of the Sanskrit words I really like for this peaceful state of mind is nirvāta (निर्वात), “sheltered from the wind” – not from sweet breezes but from forceful winds. It’s a wonderful analogy for being protected from agitating thoughts and emotions.
In the language of Ayurveda, we can think of this as a place or a state where vāta dośa, the airy, drying force that is constantly moving, is undisturbed and therefore not fanning the flames of potential short tempers or anxiety.
The offerings placed before a banyan tree on Vaṭa Savitri full moon are simple, straight from nature, and seasonally perfect. We offer fresh, sweet, seasonal fruits, and even little cucumbers, along with a pot of fresh water.
These offerings embody the first five qualities we need for summer. They are sweet, light to digest, and a little oily or smooth (think of what it’s like to bite into a banana). Plus, they are cooling and juicy. So they are a natural map of how to stay healthy in summer.
There is something else we receive as prasāda on this occasion. It is more than seasonally perfect fruits.
The sixth quality, calmness, comes from the environment of worship under a sacred tree. This calm state is also called samprasāda (सम्प्रसाद). It’s a beautiful and significant word with meanings like wellbeing, kindness, serenity and a gift that carries divine blessings. Perfect isn’t it! Here’s how we connect with it.
Prasāda:
For this full moon practice, we don’t go to a temple structure but into nature. The living, breathing banyan tree with its spreading branches is the sacred space. We enter a place where the air is saturated with life-giving energy, prāṇa (प्राण), and with heightened spiritual power.
So the big gift of the occasion is spending time doing spiritual practices under a vaṭavrkṣa, वटवृक्ष, a banyan tree. It’s more than breathing wonderfully oxygenated air and taking a break from hot kitchens or screen time, from overly stuffy or overly air-conditioned environments.
It’s an amazingly uplifting experience, a rejuvenation. In fact, it’s a form of sattvavajaya cikitsā, an elixir for winning over the mind, for developing inner harmony and spiritual awareness. It is medicine in itself. We will explore this more in Part 2.
Teacher: Hema Patankar
Maitreya Larios is a scholar and practitioner of the ancient and living traditions of India. He has been a practitioner of Indian spirituality since he was 9 years old.
In 2013, he obtained a doctorate in classical Indology from the University of Heidelberg in Germany, where he is currently employed as a research fellow. He wrote his dissertation on the living Vedic traditions of Maharashtra, which will appear as a book in late 2015.
He is most excited about being a student of Sanskrit and philosophy and about igniting that enthusiasm in his students. His personal journey over the 26 years of studentship in this tradition has been a humbling experience, but it is a path that he assures brings the most amazing transformations.
Besides his area of expertise as a scholar of Indian culture and religion, Maitreya is passionate about photography, visual arts, traveling and vegan/vegetarian cooking.
He is happily married and a father to a beautiful boy named Kabīr.
Few artists have the power to create an indelible impact on the minds of their audiences through their art form and one such name in the world of Kathak is Shambhavi Dandekar. Shambhavi Dandekar as an accomplished Indian Kathak master performer, has carved a niche for herself through her sheer talent, unique performances and unparelled choreography, that has brought her recognition on the national as well as the international platforms.
As a young dancer, Shambhavi started her training under the able guidance of her own mother and renowned Guru Pandita Maneesha Sathe, a celebrated dancer and a teacher in her own right. Shambhavi then went on to complete her intense training in ‘laya and tala’ or rhythm and beats from Table virtuoso “Taalyogi” Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. Along with her top-notch traditional dance training, Shambhavi also has a strong academic educational background with a Bachelors in Commerce and two Masters degrees in Dance. Furthermore, she also holds Diplomas both in French and Sanskrit.
Shambhavi has more than 20 years of teaching experience at an undergraduate and a graduate level at various dance education institutions in India. She has also started her own international school of dance in 2008, called ‘Shambhavi’s International School of Kathak’ or SISK. SISK is a prominent and a thriving international institution with five branches in India and the United States of America with over 400 students and a staff of 15 teachers who are trained by Shambhavi herself.
SISK has produced many a talented student over the years. Shambhavi’s years of experience, intellectual understanding and analysis of the nuances of the art form, has helped her create stellar performers out of her dedicated students. Many of her students are emerging as budding Kathak professionals. Shambhavi guides performers and students all over the world through workshops and master classes.
Shivani is a meditation teacher and multi-disciplinary artist, and the founder of Living Sanskrit. Born both American and into the yogic tradition, she is devoted to preserving and accurately practicing ancient indigenous wisdom in modern times and non-native contexts.
Shivani first heard Sanskrit in the womb, and not a day has gone by without it. She grew up immersed in dharma culture, yogic teachings, and sacred practices under the guidance of her spiritual teacher and also her grandmother.
Living Sanskrit is the culmination of a long-held dream to keep this tradition alive and share its magnificent gifts with the world.
Shivani started teaching meditation in 2001, and professionally a few years later at the suggestion of her spiritual teacher. Since then, Shivani has shared meditation with thousands of people at venues that range from corporate offices to hospitals to schools. From 2008-2014, Shivani was a Fellow with the Berkeley Initiative for Mindfulness and Law, leading retreats and weekly meditation sessions at Berkeley Law School.
Alongside teaching, Shivani is a prolific artist, photographer, and writer. She is a graduate of the Waterfront Conservatory and Playhouse, a member of the California Bar, and has a J.D. from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Rhetoric with minors in Theater, Business Administration, and South Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
She lives with her beloved husband Nick in Redwood City, California, where she can often be found dancing, gardening, listening to birdsong, and hiking in nature.
Ekabhumi is an award-winning poet, author, illustrator, yoga instructor and arts educator with 18 years of international teaching experience. Through a ritualized and meditative creative method, he makes artworks for ceremonial and educational use that help people deepen their spiritual practice, recognize the divinity of common experiences, and find meaning in the beauty of our world. His artworks may be found in yoga studios, private homes, and on altars around the world. He is currently part of the core faculty of livingsanskrit.com.
His name was given by his first guru during a formal initiation ceremony into a tantric yoga lineage in 2005. Since that time, he has studied with many spiritual teachers and traditional artists both in India and the States. His art teachers include eminent western figurative painters like Domenic Cretara, as well as Newar artist Dinesh Charan Shrestha, Bikaner-style miniature painter Mahaveer Swami, Thangka painter Andy Weber, and yantra painter Mavis Gewant.
Ekabhumi’s writing and artwork has been published widely, appearing in anthologies and journals like The Poetry of Yoga, Berkeley Fiction Review, and Pearl, as well as books like Tantra Illuminated by Christopher Hareesh Wallis and Awakening Shakti by Sally Kempton. His instructional Shakti Coloring Book and the uplifting Bhakti Coloring Book are now available world-wide from Sounds True Press.
Though his first love is the arts, he has a wide range of interests that are reflected in his many past occupations: event producer, stock options broker, handyman, journalist, ski boot fitter, competitive surfer and champion sailor. He toured internationally as a performance poet, and the poets he coached won numerous regional and national titles. He facilitated writer’s groups, hosted poetry readings, and organized spoken-word festivals for nearly 20 years, culminating in the acclaimed 2009 Individual World Poetry Slam.
Ekabhumi is an inspiring, playful yet methodical teacher who helps students cultivate deeper intuitive states. For nearly two decades, he variously taught yoga, painting, public speaking, and creative writing to students ranging from kindergarten to post-graduate level. Much of his time is now spent creating educational material about interpreting, making, and utilizing sacred art of the dharma traditions. On weekends, he can be found in his garden practicing silence and learning directly from Nature.
Hema Patankar has spent her life immersed in study, practice and service to the Vedic tradition. It began when she was a teenager irresistibly attracted to the sound of Sanskrit and images of yogis who had become profoundly wise and blissful through meditation.
An alumni of a gurukula in Western India, Hema spent over 30 years intimately engaged with the traditions that have emerged from the Vedas. She worked on research, translation, and editorial projects in the company of learned pandits and scholars. She assisted with yajnas – ancient fire ceremonies – and rituals, which allowed her to get extraordinarily close to the living practice of Vedic traditions. She immersed herself in the sādhana of singing Sanskrit hymns and the songs of the poet saints, which she studied intensively with her Gurus and traditional devotional singers. She became known for devotional singing, and taught students from around the world.
Hema has a passion for the preservation of sacred Vedic heritage. For several years she was the Executive Director of the Muktabodha Indological Research Institute. There she spearheaded the development of an extensive online collection of rare Sanskrit texts. She nurtured the establishment of a traditional Vedic school where an endangered branch of the Vedas is preserved. She also directed the video documentation of remarkable Vedic rituals and brought rare texts on Śaiva philosophy and Vedic ritual to publication.
She later studied traditional Āyūrveda and earned a Vaidya Bhusana (vaidyabhūṣaṇa) Ayurvedic Practitioner degree. She is President of the Board of Trustees of Vedika Global, a school for the study and practice of traditional Āyūrveda and Vedic sciences. She has published articles on Āyūrveda, the Bhakti tradition, and the preservation of Vedic manuscripts. Most recently she edited a text on Vedic full and new moon rituals. Her current writing focuses on the intersection of living Ayurveda with the rituals and philosophy of the Vedic tradition.