How about an instruction manual for fellow human beings?

For you, it's a special day. After a long wait, your new washing machine is finally being delivered. It's a modern model that can seamlessly integrate into your smart home. After the delivery, your first step is to familiarize yourself with the appliance. You carefully study the user manual and watch the recommended introductory video. Once you've done that, you feel well-informed and confident that your laundry adventures will now take on a new dimension!

When we encounter people, whether it's in private among friends or professionally with colleagues, customers, or business partners, there are times when we wish we had a sort of instruction manual to enhance our understanding in these encounters.

The good news is: Such an instruction manual exists!

But most of us neither read it nor know how to use it. This can change if you enrich and expand your perspective with the teachings of Indian wisdom. In Indian mythology, there is a figure known as Citra Gupta. His task is to record a person's karma at the beginning of their life. This is done in the form of a kind of instruction manual. Citra Gupta outlines a person's personal traits and life circumstances on their face, hands, and other parts of their body.

What may sound like a fable from another world is the foundation of a teaching known in Vedic knowledge as Sāmudrika. Citra Gupta's descriptions can be found in the forms, expressions, and markings on a person's face, hands, and other body parts.

The secret lies in changing your perspective

Understanding how to use Sāmudrika means that you no longer reduce your gaze at someone's face to just "Wow! What a remarkably large nose!" Instead, the prominent nose conveys to you how your counterpart acts, makes plans, takes initiative, and responds to criticism. Is the nose large due to its length or width? Is it bent or flat? All of these are details of your "instruction manual" that inform you. However, this is still not enough to be fully informed.

Only Fitting Pieces Create a Coherent Picture

Just as the user manual for your new washing machine instructs you on how to integrate it into your smart home, Sāmudrika follows the same rules. The nose alone provides important clues, but these only become certain when you consider the rest of the body and its expressions.

In addition to body type and the characteristics of body parts, Sāmudrika also incorporates a person's facial expressions, gestures, and voice to capture and understand Citra Gupta's valuable work.

Sāmudrika, the Vedic study of the body, is a part of Jyotisha Darshana and can be found in all of my consultations, coaching, and seminars.