BinduSar Yoga 

विकारो धातुवैषम्यं, साम्यं प्रकृतिरुच्यते| 
सुखसञ्ज्ञकमारोग्यं, विकारो दुःखमेव च||४||

 

PRAKRUTI – Your constitution or the nature of balance.

 

The Sanskrit prefix "pra" means "original" and "kruti" means "creation". A person's prakruti is the inherent balance of the three doshas at the moment of their creation. It is at this moment that a person's physiological and psychological tendencies become fixed. 

 

The three doshas are the physiological forces of the body. A person's constitution is defined concerning the inherent balance of these three doshas. It is the interplay between these doshas that is responsible for both body type and personality. 

 

To know a person's constitution is to understand their tendencies. If a person knows their tendencies, they can take the actions that keep their tendencies in check. A person who knows that they tend to feel cold, easily avoids becoming too cold by wearing more clothing or drinking warm beverages. To know your constitutional tendencies is to be empowered with the knowledge needed to create balance in your life. 

 

Every living creature has all three doshas within them. We cannot exist without a certain amount of each. Kapha provides each of us with tissues, and pitta offers metabolic action and vata allows us to move and express ourselves. Our constitution is best defined in terms of the percentage of each energy within a person’s structure. In this way, there are not three types (vata, pitta or kapha), or even seven types (combinations), but an infinite number of combinations and permutations with no two people being exactly the same. 

 

 

Some Factors influence the Prakruti include:

 

• The mental state of our parents at the time of conception.

• Genetic factors, including if someone comes from a family is proficient in art, music, teaching, or science. These traits can be passed down through generations.

• Our age. Because we are so influenced by Kapha in childhood, Pitta in adulthood and Vata as we are older this can mask our original Prakruti.

• Our ethnicity and nationality. People from various parts of the world have particular features associated with their country of origin.

• The time of day and the season in which we were conceived.

 

VIKRUTI—THE NATURE OF THE IMBALANCE

 

Vikruti means "after creation." The Sanskrit root "vi" means "after" and the root word "kruti" means "creation." A person's vikruti is the state of the three doshas after the moment of conception. 

 

Following the moment of conception, the human embryo is exposed to and altered by its environment. In a healthy environment, the embryo forms in an optimal manner. After birth, if the environment remains optimal, the child grows up healthy. However, in a less than optimal environment, the three doshas become disturbed and upset the normal physiology, resulting in the symptoms of disease. 

 

In Ayurveda, when we talk about the vikruti of a patient, we are referring to the current state of the three doshas and how they are expressing themselves in the body and mind. Due to the less than optimal environment most of us find ourselves in, our vikruti helps us to understand the imbalances or symptoms that we are experiencing. 

 

However, it should be understood that in an optimal environment, the vikruti and the prakruti are the same. In this state, tendencies exist in the body and the mind, but they are not expressing themselves in a manner that is causing a disturbance. 

 

An essential goal of Ayurveda is to understand a person's vikruti and then understand what aspects of a person's environment have contributed to the disturbance. Once known, the goal is to correct the situation. In this context, environment refers to both what a patient takes in through their five senses as well as the nature of a patient's lifestyle. While knowing a person's prakruti is essential for understanding the most profound tendencies within a person, knowing a person's vikruti is essential for devising a treatment program. Practitioners should remember that we always treat the current state of the doshas.