Prenatal Education: Ancient Indian Perspectives Selected Papers National Seminar on Prenatal Education: Ancient Indian Perspectives April 11-12, 2019 Edited and Compiled by: Sri Aurobindo Foundation for Indian Culture, Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry, 2019 www.safic.in All rights concerning the content of the papers included in this volume belong to the authors. These papers were previously published in the official proceedings of the seminar and are included here with permission. CREDITS Content Editors: Dr. Sampadananda Mishra, Director, SAFIC Dr. Beloo Mehra, Senior Associate, SAFIC Dr. Debajyoti Jena, Head, Dept of Sanskrit and IC, SCSVMV, Kanchipuram Editorial Assistance: Upasika Ghosh, Research Assistant, SAFIC Content Compilation and Cover Design: Tuhina Roy, SAFIC Intern 1 | APRIL 2019 SEMINAR Prenatal Education: Ancient Indian Perspectives TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO THE SEMINAR Sampadananda Mishra ............................................................................................................................................................................... 3 SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF FERTILITY, PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH - AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE P. Ram Manohar, ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 ROLE OF ANTENATAL YOGA IN POST NATAL LIFE Yogacharya Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani .............................................................................................................................................. 12 SPIRITUAL INSIGHTS ON LOVE AND HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS Beloo Mehra ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 21 UNDERSTANDING CONCEPTS OF SHADBHAVAS - WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SUPRJANANA Geetha Kumar .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 36 ANUVAMSHIKI SIDDHANTA – THE CONCEPT OF INHERITANCE THROUGH AN AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE Indusree C Suseelan & Harshitha M S ..................................................................................................................................................... 47 CITTA-PARIKARMA – A YOGASŪTRA BASED FRAMEWORK FOR PRENATAL EDUCATION Jayaraman Mahadevan ............................................................................................................................................................................. 52 INDIAN WISDOM TRADITIONS ON PRENATAL EDUCATION, PREGNANCY AND PARENTING: N. Kalyani ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 55 GARBHINI PARICHARYA – DIETICS, REGIMEN AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CARE IN PREGNANCY Megha Udai.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 62 IMPORTANCE OF RAJASWALA PARICHARYA IN SUPRAJA JANMA Mrudula, KS............................................................................................................................................................................................. 72 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE POST-NATAL CEREMONIES ACCORDING TO THE GṚHYA TEXTS S. Ramaratnam ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 77 PRENATAL RITUALS IN THE VEDAS R. Rangan ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 89 CONCEPT OF RAJASWALA PARICHARYA: TOOL TO ENHANCE FERTILITY Roshni.K.P ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 94 THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH: LESSONS FROM INDIAN TRADITION Rutu Baldha ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 100 2 | APRIL 2019 SEMINAR Prenatal Education: Ancient Indian Perspectives INTRODUCTION TO THE SEMINAR Dr. Sampadananda Mishra Director, Sri Aurobindo Founration for Indian Culture “The Education of a human being should begin at birth and continue throughout his life. Indeed, if we want this education to have its maximum result, it should begin even before birth...” (The Mother, CWM, Vol. 12, p 9.) When we look at the stories of Ashtavakra and Abhimanyu in the Mahabaharata, we realize the value of educating the child much before the child is born, right from the day of conception, even much before the conception takes place. No wonder then the stories of many great souls of even our present age also reveal how consciously they were brought into the physical world. The ancient Indian seers and thinkers gave much importance to this aspect of the education. As per the Vedic tradition, a child has to be the result of intense prayers and aspirations and not the product of mere entertainment and conjugal enjoyment. We find an immense body of materials in the Vedic tradition which deal with the prenatal samskaras or purificatory disciplines that helped, and will certainly help in present and future times, in educating a child from the moment of its conception in the mother’s womb. In the Vedic tradition, there are three major types of scriptures dealing with different aspects of pre-natal education. There are scriptures such as grihyasutras and smritigranthas dealing with the rules of rituals and ceremonies to be performed by the parents to bring forth a child who is healthy and heroic, bright and brilliant. There are other scriptures such as garbhopanishad which deals with the Vedantic science of embryology, which tells us about with the physical growth of the embryo since the time of its formation till it becomes ready to be born as a child. The third type of scripture forms a part of Ayurveda and is known as Kaumarabhritya which deals with the pre-natal and post-natal care of the child. There is also a branch in Astrology which deals with the effects of planets on the unborn child. Taking inspiration from the Vedic wisdom and the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on prenatal education, SAFIC has been engaged in various ways in creating a spiritual movement of creating a conscious 3 | APRIL 2019 SEMINAR Prenatal Education: Ancient Indian Perspectives population (supraja-janana). On 4th November 2007, SAFIC had organized a one-day workshop at Pondicherry on the topic of Prenatal Education in Vedic Culture; this was organised in association with WEBOLIM, Bangalore. SAFIC has also designed a workshop module under the title “Sambhūti” which takes place at Pondicherry every year. Recently, SAFIC has launched its webpage ‘mothersglow.in’ [https://mothersglow.in/] for taking forward the ideas related to prenatal education and creating a greater awareness in the society. This seminar in collaboration with SCSVMV is SAFIC’s first attempt in bringing many minds on a single platform for a greater sharing of the knowledge and generating more ideas with regard to various aspects of prenatal education from the Indian perspective. We hope this seminar will be adding much more value to the initiatives undertaken by SAFIC. We are indeed grateful to the authorities of SCSVMV and its organizing team for all their support and collaboration in this effort of SAFIC. 4 | APRIL 2019 SEMINAR Prenatal Education: Ancient Indian Perspectives PLENARY SESSION SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF FERTILITY, PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH - AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE Dr. P. Ram Manohar Research Director, Amrita School of Ayurveda, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (University), Kollam, Kerala ABSTRACT Fertility is a commitment of life to propagate itself. To preserve and propagate the experience, the wisdom that has been accumulated through the ages. When we think of fertility, we cannot but think of sexuality. In fact there are three dimensions to fertility. The physical or sexual, the biological or reproductive and the spiritual or evolutionary. It is as if the three guṇas participate in harmony to fulfill the deeper purpose of nature. The sexual dimension of fertility is the Tamasic component, the pull of pleasure, the power of Māyā that Nature uses as a bait to serve the purpose of reproduction. The biological dimension of fertility is the Rajasic component, that brings forth a new life form by dynamic organisation of matter. Transmitting encoded information accumulated through generations by passing on the genes. But in human life, fertility also fulfils the most important Satvic dimension of transmitting culture or samskāra, which is the quintessence of spiritual evolution in human life. INTRODUCTION The word Āyus means life cycle or life process. Āyus stands for all the events that characterise life from birth, growth, decay to death. According to Ayurveda, Āyus is a process through which the body, senses, mind and self coalesce to manifest life. Life is a continuous effort to sustain this collaboration