Three types of Vipaka

In Ayurveda, the effect of the ingredients on the body tissues is perceived by flavor and by Vipaka. The flavor is what we sense on our tongue and in Sanskrt is called Rasa, as described in the previous verse. When the ingredients pass through the process in the stomach, the duodenum and come to the small intestine where they are absorbed, the body receives them into its liquid. The "flavor" of this liquid is called Vipaka. Although the classification of Vipaka uses the same terminology as with the flavors that we taste with our tongue (sweet, salty, astringent, bitter etc.), their meaning is understood differently.

When we say that the Vipaka of something is delicious/sweet, it means that the ingredient provides the body with strength, nutrition. When we say Amla Vipaka, that means the ingredient affects the production of various acids, enzymes and hormones in the body. Katu Vipaka, or the pungent Vipaka, acts as a catabolic agent in the body, it breaks things down. The reader has to perceive the action of the ingredient within the metabolic process in the body.

The word Vipaka is very mysterious. We don't know how the sages identified the Vipaka of ingredients and we do not yet have devices to detect them today. The concept of Vipaka is decisive in healing illnesses with herbs and ingredients. Today, many more ingredients are known of than were described in Ayurveda in the past. It is a problem is to include them in the list of the Ayurvedic medicaments because their Vipaka is unknown.

The immaterial aspect of something is not the same as the material itself, the substance/essences is the more subtle part of what is material, and each such essence/substance has its own dharma, and within that there is ras, prabhav, vipak, virya and guny. Matter is a gross material idea and the essence/substance is a the concept of its subtle aspects. It is always necessary to determine the context in which we are investigating these idea. We are discussing nouns when we discuss essence and materials, not verbs (their functions).

This particular verse is addressing the Vipaka, which means the impact, the completion of a process after which something else arises. We are speaking of the aftereffect. "Vi" means "after" and "Pak" means "baking", so Vipak means after the baking (or after any process). The context is that of the human body and its healthy functioning. The process of "baking" here is the digestion of food. "Baking" is happening in our stomachs. That is where the raw ingredients that we ingest are further processed, that is the context.  The Vipak is the consequence of that process.

The impacts of all ingredients that come into our body are three:  svadhu ("sweet", a nutritious essence, a strengthening essence), amla ("sour", an essence that break things down, that allows for Air and Fire to enter) and katu ("pungent", burning). The tongue, during eating, experiences other flavors as well, but after the impact within our body, there are just these three "flavors", and they determine what will happen next within the body - if it is "sweet", then it will be a nutritious material, if it will be "sour", then it will separate things from each other, and if it will be "pungent", then things will be completely baked.