CEMPAKA - essential oil
Pronounced - Champaka, otherwise known as Tropical Magnolia
Is it any wonder that these trees, which produce a luxurious abundance of intoxicating blossoms, are associated with higher consciousness and the opening of the heart?
Other names in English include Joy perfume tree, yellow jade orchid tree and fragrant Himalayan champaca. Champaka is native to the Indomalaya ecozone, ie – South Asia, Southeast Asia-Indochina and southern China. In Theravada Buddhism, champaka is said to have been used as the tree for achieved enlightenment (or Bodhi) by seventeenth Lord Buddha.
සිAccording to Tibetan beliefs, the Buddha of the next era will find enlightenment under the white flower canopy of the champaka tree. A hundred years ago, Sri Ramakrishna was walking under the fragrantly flowering champaka trees that grew at the Kali temple in Calcutta. Reaching up, he plucked a blossom and gazed at it in wonder. In his god-intoxicated state, he perceived the white sap oozing from the flower as blood flowing from a wound, and realized that he had just killed a living being. From then on, he instructed his disciples to never pick flowers, but to let them fall naturally to the ground, as offerings from the tree.
What botanists now know is that when a flower blossoms, it produces a spherical aura of fragrance that is similar to the radiation of light from the sun. Every flower's living aura has its own radius: the golden champaka has one of the highest diffusivity levels of all flowers. The effect of aromatic molecules on consciousness is profound and well-documented by both traditional Ayurvedic and modern scientific research.
The Charak Samhita tells us that 'sweet' smells maintain youthfulness and vigor, and give a long life. They are rejuvenating, and increase sensual enjoyment. Mental and physical relaxation combined with heightened alertness, improved concentration, enhanced memory, regulation of the nervous system, and restoration of immunity suppressed by stress are only a few of the benefits that science now ascribes to inhaling the aromas of flowers.
• Stress relief
• Skin: itching, reduces burning sensation, ulcers, leprosy