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Stop And Smell The Flowers.
Prabhupada, Vrndavana, October 8, 1976: “A flower, a rose flower, very fragrant. As soon as you smell you can remember Krishna. “Oh, this smell is Krishna.” Actually, that is Krishna. You cannot create that smell. It is Krishna, Krishna’s art. That, punyo gandhah prthivyam ca, that gandha, that smell, flavor, is within the earth. Wherefrom the rose is coming? From this earth. But still the rose is so fragrant. You cannot take out the fragrance from the earth. Everything is there. Sarva-kama-dugha-mahi. Everything is within the earth. But you cannot take out. It is Krishna. Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate svabhaviki jnana-bala-kriya ca. He has got this power to exact, to extract punya-gandha through the rose flower. You haven’t. You may be very big chemist, but you cannot do that. So in this way, if we study Krishna, if you become Krishna conscious, then your life is successful. That we are teaching. This is Krishna consciousness movement. And the sastras will help you.”
Stop And Smell The Flowers — The Scent Really Can Soothe Stress
ScienceDaily — Feeling stressed? Then try savoring the scent of lemon, mango, lavender, or other fragrant plants. Scientists in Japan are reporting the first scientific evidence that inhaling certain fragrances alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce stress levels.
In the new study, Akio Nakamura and colleagues note that people have inhaled the scent of certain plants since ancient times to help reduce stress, fight inflammation and depression, and induce sleep. Aromatherapy, the use of fragrant plant oils to improve mood and health, has become a popular form of alternative medicine today. And linalool is one of the most widely used substances to soothe away emotional stress. Until now, however, linalool’s exact effects on the body have been a deep mystery.
The scientists exposed lab rats to stressful conditions while inhaling and not inhaling linalool. Linalool returned stress-elevated levels of neutrophils and lymphocytes — key parts of the immune system — to near-normal levels. Inhaling linalool also reduced the activity of more than 100 genes that go into overdrive in stressful situations. The findings could form the basis of new blood tests for identifying fragrances that can soothe stress, the researchers say.
Video: The real flower.