The amlaberry is considered a divine fruit in Ayurveda. It is also known as amalaki, Indian Gooseberry, embolic myrobalan and amla. The ancient Puranic texts go so far as to glorify amla as belonging to the realm of divyaushadhi — a divinely conceived plant that carries unsurpassed healing restorative powers. The guduchi plant and turmeric root are also part of this family of divine plants.
It can help the body recover from serious diseases, such as cancer and autoimmune diseases, when used in conjunction with dietary and other lifestyle protocols.
And it’s not enough that this berry may reduce your risk of chronic disease, prolong your life, and improve your metabolism, but it is also used to treat the common cold and fever, as a diuretic, a laxative, a liver tonic, to pacify stomach colic, to restore health, is a highly prized anti-inflammatory, a hair tonic whether it’s used internally or transdermally and it also has been shown to prevent stomach ulcers and dyspepsia.
But the Upanishads say that along with a clean diet and balanced lifestyle, taking amla regularly can wipe out the karmic residues, which my teacher called the “dark bugs” that cast a shadow on the light radiating from our souls. Amla is one of the most sattvic foods that can take care of one’s karmic load, which to me is a very unusual property of a food!
Many people take synthetically derived Vitamin C where they isolate the vitamin C out of the fruit and make it in a lab in a much higher dose, which then will act like a pharmaceutical, which means while it may contribute to your health on one level, it will give also side effects and create toxicity in the liver and kidneys.
When I take on a patient who takes Vitamin C I immediately switch them over to taking the Amlaberry, either in a powder, a pill form or in Chyawan Prash, a famous mixture of dozens of herbs cooked into the Amlaberry made into a paste to be eaten by the spoonful after breakfast and lunch. The amlaberry contains 60 times more Vitamin C than other citrus fruits and the best part is that it creates alkalinity once it enters the body, whereas Vitamin C creates lots of acidity which can be tough on the kidneys, in some cases causing kidney stones.
And, the type of Vitamin C molecule found within the amlaberry does not decompose in heat. This is because the amlaberry’s Vitamin C molecules are bound with heat-resistance tannins, therefore they will not decompose under heat like regular ascorbic acid. Most forms of Vitamin C are heat sensitive and become damaged in hot areas of the body like the acidic environment of the stomach.
Here’s another very interesting fact about the amlaberry that most people don’t know. The name amalaki means “no mala.” Putting an “A” in front of a word means “no.” Therefore a-mala-ki literally means no malas. Toxins are known as malas in Ayurveda, so the word amalaki literally means no toxins, which means that it supports the digestive system, the digestive fire in the stomach, known as pachagni, so well that the body makes less or zero ama or toxic buildup. Remember that ama is the number one cause for disease. And on top of that the amlaberry creates optimal elimination as well, so it both prevents toxins and aids in their elimination.
Some remedies are good for Vata, but increase kapha, while others increase pitta as they burn kapha. So sometimes they can help one area while imbalancing another. But the amlaberry is balancing to all body types. This is because its amla or sour taste pacifies vata dosha, it’s sweet or madhura taste can also pacify Vata; but its kashaya or astringent taste pacifies kapha dosha and it pacifies pitta due to its sapta guna or cooling property and sweet taste and vipak or post-digestive effect. Plus, the amlaberry contains 5 out of the 6 possible tastes. The 6 tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. So the amlaberry contains all the tastes except for salty, which also makes it balancing for all body types.
Amlaberry is highly recommended for children because it not only prevents colds and flus but it is highly nourishing to the brain and its ability to gather, store and recall information.
Amlaberry is highly nourishing to both rasa and rakta dhatus. These are the first two tissues formed after the food is digested and absorbed from the intestines into the bloodstream. The first tissue the nutrients encounter is the blood plasma, known as rasa dhatu. After the food stays in this tissue for 3-5 days the nutrients then move into the second tissue, known as rakta dhatu, or the blood tissue.
It turns out that the blood plasma and the blood tissue are the two tissues that gives the skin its glow, which is why amla is considered the best nurturing fruit for the skin, because it is highly nourishing to both rasa and rakta, blood plasma and blood tissues. And because amla keeps the blood plasma and the blood clean, it makes the liver’s job of filtering toxins from the blood much easier.
And it was always amazing to me to learn that the amlaberry also supports the muscle tissue, known as mamsa dhatu, by increasing protein synthesis. This is a much better option for body builders to take than the unintelligent synthetic amino acid protein powders and channel-clogging smoothies they consume.
And it can even nourish a very deep tissue, known as shukra dhatu, or the reproductive tissue, which is why it’s also good for both hormonal health and to enhance fertility.
Amlaberry is also known as Amrita. Again, the A in front of the word means “No” and “mrita”means “death.” It is said to extend one’s lifespan because it is a rejuvenating herb, which is known as a rasayana. Many herbs have specific properties, but there is a classification of some of the special herbs which are known as rasayanas because they carry the property of rasayana or rejuvenation through their regular consumption.
The berry is also known to be dhatri, or to be as pure and divine and nourishing as mother’s milk. And speaking of mother’s milk, the amlaberry is given to keep the mother’s milk both pure and free from toxins and nourishing to the baby. Which is why I always give it to my new mothers who are nursing if their babies have eczema — it purifies the ama visha (hot toxins) found in the breast milk which can cause eczema as they come through the baby’s delicate skin.
We have 13 digestive fires in the body to transform our foods for maximum nutrient absorption and assimilation, and the amlaberry balances and enhances all 13 of these agnis or digestive fires. Its astringent taste supports the absorption of food from the intestines into the bloodstream. So it is important for people who have very weak digestion and assimilation of nutrients to take amla.
And the amlaberry helps balance the stomach acid as its sour taste supports the NORMAL levels of acid in the stomach while at the same time its sweet post-digestive action ensures no excess acidity. This is perfect for the numerous patients I see who have high pitta and yet cannot digest the food. Because even though the pitta is there, kind of like the liquid fuel, the flame cannot be ignited which we call the agni. This situation is rampant in our society and is known as high pitta, low agni, where you have the pitta, the fuel, yet you cannot burn up and assimilate the food. Many people take hydrochloric acid or vinegar to remedy this situation, which is somewhat harsh. This is where the amlaberry comes in: it has the sour taste, and can ignite all 13 digestive fires but in the end it has a sweet alkaline post digestive effect. This is exactly we need in this day and age when no one can digest food anymore because of their acid reflux, GERD, hiatal hernias and acid stomachs.
The amlaberry found in the Chayawan Prash formula is known to be the best rasayana or rejuvenator for the lungs because amla supports oxygen exchange in the lungs through supporting normal pH levels in the blood and it facilitates the function of the lungs by increasing oxygen levels in the blood.
Many of my patients have elevated levels of C-reactive protein, which is a marker for inflammation. The alkalinity that the amlaberry provides prevents inflammation and prevents the production of C-reactive protein.
Many women from India understand the value of the Amlaberry in promoting and nurturing all aspects of the hair, its luster, strength, glow and color, which is why it is used both internally and topically in the hair through the use of hair oils which contain amlaberry.
Many people ask me to put them on remedies to protect their vision. So in addition to the many herbal treatments and eye exercises we give, I always make it a point to put the patient on amlaberry. The Ayurvedic shastras state that amla increases the lifespan of the eyes because it balances both the ranjaka pitta of the liver and the alochaka pitta which governs the eyes.
The amlaberry has even more health benefits that are too numerous to mention, which is why it is so highly prized in India that a day is given up in November each year to celebrate the tree to express gratitude for all the gifts it provides. On this auspicious day they actually worship the tree and ask permission to pick the fruit.
Most, if not all of our diseases begin with the vibrational body and eventually wind up in the physical body. The amlaberry can nourish both the vibrational and physical body at the same time — in fact its vibration is very high, according to the shastras — very close to the aditatwa vibration which is nature’s first pure vibration which brings existence into being. Not many fruits can make that claim. It is also stated that this fruit has such divine power that it can actually clean the nadis, the body’s vibrational channels, and by doing so has the capability of making the whole body intelligent enough to release the used up prana.
It also has the power to push apana vata downwards, which, in this modern age of high stress, tends to move upwards causing many disease processes. Apana vata is an energy located in the intestinal region which moves downwards, pulling the digestive juices down, the menstrual fluid down and babies down during labor. If apana moves up, and it does in the vast majority of the patients I see, it can cause acid reflux, hiatal hernias, loosening of the lower esophageal sphincter, endometriosis and a long labor and delivery.
I remember asking Vaidya Mishra, my Ayurvedic teacher and mentor if the amlaberry was similar to our pomegranate here in the States and he emphatically replied that the amlaberry was like pomegranates on steroids — that the pomegranate didn’t come close to the healing properties contained in this wonderful berry.
I hope you find this information useful as you strive to develop perfect radiant health. Be sure to include the amlaberry as part of your arsenal of tools for healthy living.
Thank you,