Basti – The Yogic Enema
Sitting in utkatasana, naval deep in water, insert a tube in the anus and contract the anus. This cleansing with water is called basti karma.
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Sitting in utkatasana, naval deep in water, insert a tube in the anus and contract the anus. This cleansing with water is called basti karma.
Lean forward, protrude the abdomen and (the muscles) from right to left with speed, this is called nauli by the siddhas. (“Hatha Yoga Pradipika”, 2:33)
A strip of wet cloth, four angulas wide (3″) and fifteen hands (1¼ metres) in length, is stoutly swallowed and, then taken out, as instructed
Insert a soft thread through the nose to the length of one hand-span so that it comes out of the mouth. This is called neti
Those shatkarma which effect purification of the body are secret. They have manifold, wondrous results and are held in high esteem by eminent yogis.
The word “yoga” literally means union. Yoga does not mean twisting of body, tying limbs into knots, holding of breath or doing some other circus.
On Friday, July 10, 2026, the rare Krishna Paksha Ekadashi of Nija Ashadha arrives. The Padma Purana tells the story of Hemamali — the Yaksha gardener of Bhagavan Kubera in Alaka, whose single morning of distraction with his wife Vishalakshi cost him his form, his wife, and his celestial city. Cursed to wander the earth of Bharata as a leper for a long time, he was at last shown the way back by Sage Markandeya — a single sincere keeping of Yogini Ekadashi.
On Saturday, June 20, 2026, Bengali households across Bharata will welcome their married daughters and sons-in-law home for the legendary jamai-aador feast and perform the Shashthi Vrata. But behind the warmth lies a story most Bengalis know by heart and most non-Bengalis have never heard — the wife who stole the hilsa, blamed the cat, lost six sons to Maa Shashthi’s wrath, and was finally forgiven. The Vrat Katha, the vidhi, the mantras, and the deeper teaching.
On Monday, June 29, 2026, women across Maharashtra, Gujarat, and southern Bharata will tie red thread around banyan trees and hear the story of Savitri — the wife who walked behind Yamaraja Himself when He came for her husband, and out-argued the Lord of Dharma into returning Satyavan’s life. The Mahabharata’s Pativrata Mahatmya Parva, the vrat vidhi, and why the banyan witnessed everything.
With Adhik Maas now closed on the Somvati Amavasya of June 15, the long-postponed festivals of Jyeshtha return — Vat Purnima (June 29, the Savitri-Yamaraja katha), Jamai Shashthi (June 20, the Bengali festival of Maa Shashthi), Sankashti Chaturthi (June 28), Yogini Ekadashi (July 10), and Devshayani Ekadashi (July 16, opening the four-month Chaturmas of Bhagavan Vishnu’s yoga-nidra). A guide to what the next four weeks hold and what the household that kept Purushottam Maas now carries forward.
On Monday, June 15, 2026 — a rare Somvati Amavasya — the intercalary month that bears Bhagavan Vishnu’s own name comes to its close. The Acharyas teach that a vrat is not measured by its duration but by its closing. Here are the Padma Purana’s instructions for sealing the month-long Purushottam Maas vrat: the morning snan, the closing puja with the Vishnu Sahasranama, the day of dana, the Somvati Amavasya gift, and the final sarva-arpana — the offering of all merit at the feet of the Lord.
Sanskriti comes from the Sanskrit root “kr” which means to do or to make prefix “sam” is applied before it to convey a sense of embellishment. It means actions done for the holistic refinement and perfection all the potentialities within a human being.
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