Arjuna is yet another sacred plant gifted to us by Mother Nature in her great effulgence. In the vedic texts, it is categorized as a divya aushadhi: a plant that carries “divya”or divinity. As with Guduchi, Amalaki, Tulsi, Haritaki, and so many others, its sanctity is a concrete property and resides in the fact that it brings endless healing and balancing properties to so many aspects of the human physiology. Arjuna is holy through the use of all of its part – all parts of the tree -the bark, leaves, flowers, and fruit – are known to have medicinal value in Ayurveda, although the bark is most commonly used therapeutically. Vaidya Mishra explains that the sanctity of the Arjuna plant primarily resides in its vibrational make-up. The Sanskrit name, arjuna, literally means: everlasting vibration of “a” that never declines. We have heard that the sound, “a” in Sanskrit represents consciousness. Arjuna is full of this divine intelligence of nature. In the physiology, the “a” value of life (or consciousness), is seated in the heart, and it is through the heart that the body is connected to the soul – the amrit or eternal aspect of our identities that radiates everlasting bliss. Using the Arjuna plant as part of your daily routine is not only uplifting to the heart and mind, it supports the satwa, or the “light of the soul”as Vaidya Mishra calls it, but lessening the load of karmic impurities. In other terms, Arjuna can fast-forward us on the track of yogic evolution! Charak says that Arjuna is hridya, the very best herb for the heart. In ayurvedic terms, Arjuna is very good for pacifying pitta and kapha dosha, but it can be aggravating to vata dosha when it is consumed as a crude herb. But there are ways, with SVA, for you to use the Arjuna without aggravating vata dosha. How? In Ayurveda, the healing properties are explained in terms of guna-s. The gunas or physical qualities of Arjuna are:
- ruksha -dry
- sheetala -cool
- lagu- light
All of these gunas or properties are known to aggravate vata dosha. This is when you use any parts of the tree in their crude form. But if you use the micro-molecules of Arjuna then you only absorb the prabhava – or most refined subtle energetic hridya properties of the plant that are fully balancing for the physiology inside and out. For example, one of the reasons why Vaidya Mishra has encapsulated the micromolecules of Arjuna in a transdermal shea butter base cream is to deliver the hridya prabhava or property without having to undergo vata aggravation. The shea butter base naturally balances vata by counteracting the ruksha (drying), sheetala (cooling) and laghu (light) properties of the herb with the sneha (unctuous), and guru (heavy) properties of the cream. In this way, the “samyog”(balanced combination) and samskar (balanced processing) of Arjuna yield a product that delivers strength to the physical, emotional, and vibrational heart without creating any imbalances in the process. Or you can try the transmucosal path with the Herbal-Memory Nectar drops that carry, as the name indicates, the “memory”or the plant’s intelligence without carrying the imbalancing physical properties. This way, you can again get the healing vibration of the Arjuna plant into your deeper tissues without having to experience any imbalances. If you need the actual physical plant, then Vaidya Mishra’s supplements are also balanced to give you the benefit without the vata aggravation. The Arjuna supplements contain 3 simple but powerful ingredients that work together as a balancing synergy:
1)Arjuna: supplies pranic energy to the heart for physical and vibrational nourishment
2)Rose petals: the heart is governed by Sadhak Pitta, Vyana Vata, Udana Vata, and Avalambaka Kapha. Rose petals are known to balance and nourish Sadhak pitta. When Sadhak pitta is in check, the vata and kapha doshas in the heart will also be more likely to stay in balance.
3)But to further keep vata and kapha in check, Vaidya has added sustainably harvested Ayurvedic coral calcium, to pacify vyan vata, udan vata, and support avalambak kapha. This is the specialty of Vaidya Mishra’s SVA formulations – to receive and integrate the intelligence of an herb or a plant as soon as you ingest it – whether it is in concentrated nectar drop form, cream form, or as the raw physical molecule. Otherwise, in mainstream Ayurveda, the physical bark of Arjuna has been widely used in Ayurvedic medicine for various cardiovascular diseases, and because cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become epidemic worldwide, it is likely for this reason that modern medicine has taken a recent interest in exploring Arjuna’s therapeutic potential in this area.
Science Says: Modern medical research has now shown that Arjuna contains anti-atherosclerotic (i.e., prevents coronary artery plaque buildup), antibacterial, anticancer, antidiabetic, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant (i.e., preventing the oxidation which induces chronic inflammation and leads to hardening of the coronary arteries), antiplatelet (i.e., anticoagulant), antiulcer (gastric), antiviral, cardioprotective, cholesterol-lowering, hepatoprotective (i.e., protects the liver) properties, as well as wound healing activity (Hari & Gaikwad, 2011). However, In the past 20 years, clinical studies have demonstrated Arjuna’s antioxidant (i.e., preventing the oxidation which induces chronic inflammation and leads to atherosclerosis) and anti-platelet effects (i.e., inhibit blood clotting to prevent heart attack and stroke), as well as its effectiveness in cardiac conditions such as CHD, angina pectoris, CHF, heart attack, high cholesterol, hypertension, and others (Kaur et al., 2014; Seth, Dua, & Maulik, 2013). A major benefit seen in all of the clinical trials conducted is that no side effects from Arjuna were reported whatsoever in any of them – unheard of with most pharmaceutical medications used in cardiology today.
Make Arjuna part of your daily life!
Ayurveda teaches us how to heal holistically. SVA gives us even further additional methods and means to apply Ayurveda in our lives easily and practically with unique formulations that allow us to get healing benefit from plants we would otherwise not be able to use without side-effects. You can learn more about all of the other properties of this divine herb in Vaidya Mishra’s 21 minute audio lecture: Arjuna – Learn About the Best Herb for the Heart, available for instant download for $0.99.