Para Ojas

Ayurveda holds that a tiny amount of one substance in the heart keeps you alive and aware. That substance is called supreme ojas (Para Ojas).

Ojas is the refined essence of all properly nourished tissues, the basis of immunity and vitality. Para means supreme or superior, and para ojas is its most refined, stable form. It is measured as just eight drops and is seated in the heart.

Para ojas is described as the essence of all the bodily tissues (dhatus). The classical texts describe its complete loss as incompatible with life.

Para Ojas Is Stable, Apara Ojas Is Mobile

Ojas comes in two forms. The ordinary, mobile ojas (Apara Ojas) circulates through the body, while para ojas stays in the heart.

Its stability is not stillness, though. It is compared to a jet plane at 40,000 feet: moving with tremendous speed, yet feeling still to its passengers.

It Maintains the Heart and Every Cell

Para ojas is said to stimulate the heart's natural pacemaker, the sinoatrial (SA) node, and to maintain the activity of the heart itself. It promotes stability of the tissues and maintains the lifespan of every cell in the body, including the red blood cells.

It Is the Essence of All Tissues

Only eight drops in volume, para ojas is described as the essence of all the dhatus. Its complete loss is described as incompatible with life.

It Can Become Awareness

When para ojas becomes awareness, the tradition describes it as opening the door to non-judgmental, all-inclusive awareness. In that state it transforms into soma, the lunar essence, releasing what are described as molecules of bliss throughout the body.

Para ojas is described as always present and accessible. The obstacle is not a lack of it, but that we are often not available for it to flow through us.

What blocks that flow, according to Ayurveda, is being stuck in fanaticism, emotions, anxieties and effort. Surrendering to "what is" is described as the shift that transforms the mobile apara ojas into para ojas.

Sound plays a role too. Primordial sound is said to flow through para ojas and lead to the soma state of consciousness. Just as each person has an individual constitution, each person is said to have an individual constitutional sound, the basic vibration of their ojas, tejas and prana.

An Ayurvedic physician who knows your constitution and your current imbalance is described as having insight into that sound. For you, the practical message is that letting go of strain and reactivity is itself treated as a way of protecting your deepest vitality.

• Soma (Lunar Essence): When para ojas becomes awareness, it transforms into soma and releases bliss throughout the body.
• Ojas: The refined essence of all properly nourished tissues. Para ojas is its supreme, most stable form.
• Apara Ojas (Mobile Ojas): The ordinary, circulating form of ojas. Surrender to "what is" is said to transform it into para ojas.
• Tejas and Prana: Together with ojas, these make up the basic vibration described as a person's constitutional sound.

Every sound has a different vibration, frequency, and action. Primordial sound flows through para ojas and leads to the soma state of consciousness. Just as every individual has a different prakruti (constitution), every individual also has his or her own prakruti sound. Knowing your prakruti sound leads to liberation through para ojas.

An Ayurvedic physician who knows your prakruti and vikruti also has insight into the sound of your prakruti, which is your basic vibration of ojas, tejas, and prana. That sound leads to inner peace, vibrating in your cells, in your RNA/DNA molecules, and in your consciousness.