OJAS:

The Key to Radiance and Vitality

      

Cynthia Copple

18

Enlightenment Journal | Fall 2011

HEALTHY LIVING

O

jas is a concept that can 

greatly aid us in staying 

healthy today. Many of us feel 

the pressures of living life in the fast 

lane; we have stressful jobs and 

relationships, we eat rich foods, we do 

not eat regularly, our sleep is not sound, 

and we do not exercise regularly. 

Through stress, ojas is depleted. The 

knowledge of ojas can give us tools to 

take charge of our health, to use our 

body's own natural healing capacities to 

restore the harmony of mind and body.

What is ojas? According to 

Ayurveda, ojas is the product of shukra 

dhatu; the seventh of seven tissues 

formed one after the other from food 

through digestion. Shukra contains 

the essence of all of the tissues and 

the blueprint for the next generation. 

The quality of ojas is dependent on 

the strength and digestive abilities of 

the previous six tissues. If any tissue is 

deficient, ojas will be deficient. If ojas 

is increased, the health of each tissue 

will be increased.

Ojas carries prana, the life force, to 

every part of the body. If ojas is absent, 

the cells and tissues will die. Chakra-

pani, one commentator, has mentioned 

that "The chief function of ojas is 

vyadhi ksamitva (natural resistance 

against disease)." Ojas is said to be 

both energy and matter—the energy 

is latent and manifests matter when 

the body's well-being is at stake, which 

does sound like the immune response.

Whatever it is, according to 

Ayurveda, we can't do without it! Sush-

ruta Samhita states that muscles have 

tone and move without hindrance due 

to ojas. A clear voice and a glowing 

face are due to ojas. The whole body 

works smoothly because of ojas. Thus 

ojas does more than fight disease—it 

creates positive health.