Dr. Saritha Shrestha presented a joint evening with Vedika's Acharya Shunya Pratichi Mathur on the central role of understanding the six tastes in order to maintain health, highlighting the knowledge of harmonizing our intake of these tastes with the shifting seasons. Dr. Shrestha cautioned students to avoid fads: hearing about the great qualities of pomegranate juice, for example, and then taking a more is better approach and over consuming it year round, without paying heed to the qualities that its taste indicates and the seasons, without looking into who, how much, why and how. Known for her healing smile and tireless service, Dr. Shrestha is an Ayurvedic Gynecologist from Nepal who travels to the US annually to help people experience the Ayurvedic path of health.

Swami Bodhananda Saraswati is a renowned Vedantin and the spiritual director and founder of the Sambodh Society. He led Vedika students through an exploration of sections of a central text of Vedanta, Shankaracharya's Viveka Chudamani, and passages from the Upanishads – the food with which the ancient sages nourished the minds and spiritual reflections of their students. He highlighted a poetic and astonishingly intricate analysis of the relationships amongst physical and subtle elements of the universe, which creates a bridge from the physical plane to the mystical. Such knowledge and contemplation was a key part of the environment in which Ayurveda's early development took place. Swamiji is a deeply learned and warm teacher of Vedanta, who is engaged in humanitarian work in South India.

Vaidya Mahesh Sabade, anchor teacher for Vedika Gurukula, gave an illuminating presentation on the Ayurvedic approach to dealing with obesity. He spoke about the importance of shifting one's focus from calorie counting to understanding the qualities of individual foods and cultivating the power of Agni, the digestive fire. He explained the difference between turning to stimulants to lose weight fast, and using the power of simple ingredients like warm water, aged honey, and satisfying meals prepared from non-processed foods as long-term measures to return to a healthy weight. With humor and compassion, he empowered participants with understanding they could immediately begin applying for renewed wellness in body, mind and spirit.

Vaidya Prof. Subhash Ranade, Chairman of the International Institute of Ayurveda in Pune, graciously returned to Vedika to teach an engaging weekend introduction to Dravya Guna, the qualities of herbs. As always, his immensely warm and informative classes were spiced with practical advice students could put into practice right away, stories from his ayurvedic journeys into the heart of the Amazon jungle, and glimpses of the remote and prestigious places he is continuously invited to visit to promote the healing wisdom of ayurveda worldwide. Vaidya Ranade invited Vedika's anchor teacher Yogesh Bele to join him in teaching the second day, since Yogeshji is deeply experienced in the cultivation of Ayurvedic plants.

Dr. Mark Dyczkowski spoke to Vedika students about the spiritual descriptions of food found in the Upanishads. He drew students from verses where the sages worship of food as the embodiment of physical, mental and spiritual sustenance and healing, to a meditation on its essence as Pure Consciousness. One of the greatest living scholars of the Shaiva Tantra, Dr. Dyczkowski has lived in Varanasi for over 30 years, immersed in the living and textual traditions of the Himalayan region. Known internationally to students of Kashmir Shaivism, Dr. Dyczkowski has recently completed a 14-volume work that brings to light an important Himalayan text that was thought to be lost forever. It has been likened by a scholar at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, who sponsored the project, to unearthing an ancient temple complex.

Tathaastu's Embrace Your Shakti Retreat in Petaluma was attended by many Vedika Gurukula students and seekers from all over the country. Vedika's Shunya Pratichi Mathur was the anchor teacher for a weekend of study with international teachers of India's eternal spiritual sciences. These included Vedic astrologer and healer Chamunda Swami, Vastu expert Pandit Gopal Sharma, Vedacharya and author Vamadeva Shastri Dr David Frawley, Yogini Shambhavi, and Yoga teacher and temple dancer Sofia Diaz. From Ayurveda to the roots of Yoga, from inner contemplation to knowledge of how to place one's furniture, participants said it was a rich weekend of learning amidst the beauty of the hundred year old oak trees and the company of celestial beings.

In celebration of the sacred science of Ayurveda, Hema Patankar Adhyaksha, President Vedika Global, Inc.

*Roots of Ayurveda by Dominik Wujastyk