Ayurveda is famous for its rasayana techniques, methods to promote longevity. According to the Charaka Samhita, an exceptionally long, healthy life is not possible unless a person lives a moral life. Ethics are important because they contribute to a clean conscience. Peace of mind is a prerequisite for a really long life, according to Ayurvedic physicians.
Westerners who've heard Hindu legends of immortal spiritual masters often ask if the stories about kaya kalpa, the technique for regenerating the physical body and reversing the aging process, are true. Recent masters like Trailinga Swami and Tapasviji Maharaj were credited with extraordinary longevity. Some Hindu holy are supposed to have lived three or four centuries in the same body.
When I asked the Hindu swami about this, I was told that the technique really exists and works quite well, but many yogis don't bother mastering it because it's so much intense focus on the physical body. Most saints don't like to take their minds off God for that long.
I was also told that the technique can only be reapplied a limited number of times. Eventually the physical body simply wears out. It just takes too much time and energy to keep rebuilding it.
After several centuries of intense yogic practices, presumably the saint has mastered the technique of transferring his or her consciousness into a fresh body which, they say, is a lot less trouble than kaya kalpa.
Yogis complain that with modern methods of disposing of dead bodies becoming more common in India, it's harder to find a vacated but still usable adult body to transfer one's awareness into.
I was told that the "immortal masters of the Himalayas" like Shankaracharya and Markandeya are not still in their original bodies but take a new physical body every century or so!
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