Spirituality and Food

Namaste dear fellow children of God,

Today I want to share my thoughts on the topic, "Spirituality and Food". Someone may ask, "What has food got to do with Spirituality?". The answer is.... EVERYTHING. How? Well, thats what we will look at in this post.



What is food? Is it just something we eat? Sorry. Its much much more than that. Food is basically everything that we eat, see, hear, smell, touch, read and think.






Just imagine for one moment that you are a horse rider. What kind of a horse would you expect? A horse that is calm, tame and moves as per your instructions or a horse that is wild, untamed and goes wherever it wants without bothering about your instructions? Obviously, the one that is tame. Isn't it?





The mind can be compared to a horse here. Most of us find it difficult to keep the mind under control. Instead of being its master we usually end up being its servant. We do what the mind tells us to do. We run after whatever the mind desires without pausing or thinking whether it is worth running after.

I have experienced it several times in the past and I am sure many of you have too that even though we want to move speedily and smoothly on the path of spirituality, we end up getting stuck somewhere or the other because of the mind. We know it that anger is futile and yet we burn in its unforgiving fire inspite of our distaste for it. We know that lust is never a good idea and yet we fall into its trap every now and then. And what to say about the various fleeting desires and fancies of the mind. We have always been left with a bad taste in the mouth by blindly following them and yet we get lured by them again and again. So what is it that keeps us entrapped in the mind's whirlpool of lust, anger, greed, fear, ego etc even though we want to get away from it? FOOD. Yes its the food that we consume which makes it more and more difficult to get out of the mind's vicious circle. I hope we remember that we are not just discussing food that is eaten. We are talking about anything that the body and mind absorb through the 5 senses.

Let us begin with the grossest form of food. The food that we eat. It has been recommended by the sages of the vedic tradition since yore that alcohol and non-vegetarian food are not a good idea for anyone who is sincerely seeking God realization. Why? Because it is tamasic and rajasic food. Which means the food that increases qualities like laziness, anger, lust, fear etc. The vibration of such food is quite dense and negative. The prana or life force provided to us by such food is of a very poor quality. Other than that, food which is too spicy, too oily, too salty, too hot or even too cold is not a good idea at all.







Now let us explore the other possible forms of food which we absorb everyday. Television surely provides a lot of good stuff. However, most of us choose to absorb sights and sounds of violence, sex, scandal and fear from it. Naturally, we have indigestion because this "food" is not friendly at all. The term "Couch Potato" says it all.





Another dangerous "food outlet" that we constantly expose ourselves to is THE MIGHTY INTERNET. Even though this post will reach you through the internet and internet HAS made life simpler in several ways, many of us choose to welcome the "food" of porn, violence, gossip, chatting without an agenda and playing silly games on the internet. This increases our "indigestion".



Not to forget several other types of "food". The magazines, tabloids and advertisement hoardings that constantly throw lustful, unnecessary and luring images and information in our direction at rocket speed.





And most importantly, the kind of people we hang out with. The kind of friends we choose to associate with makes a HUGE difference in our thinking and lifestyle. We have to choose our company very carefully. We are not talking about being judgmental here. Let us love all and judge none. However, we must remember to keep a safe distance from those who are not spiritual seekers. Most of us start smoking, drinking, watching porn etc because of our friends. Bad company can be like a cancer for a spiritual seeker.



We keep absorbing this everyday repeatedly from morning till night and then we complain that the mind is restless and it doesn't listen to us. Do you blame it? We feed the mind/senses with every possible type of "unhealthy food" continuously for years and then one fine day we suddenly expect the mind/senses to be fully under our control. Trying to walk on the spiritual path and exposing the mind/senses to all kinds of tamasic and rajasic inputs is like applying the accelerator and the brake of a car at the same time. The car won't move an inch. It will just create dust and noise. Let go of the brake. Then the accelerator will work with full force.

Feeding the mind/senses with lesser and lesser tamasic and rajasic inputs will make the journey smoother and faster. The mind will eventually become quieter as it will "run out of gas." The mind can then easily be trained to dwell upon holy images, sounds and thoughts.







Jai Jai Sri Radhe!
Servant of Radha Rani

Does materialistic culture really work?

Namaste,

Today we find a mad race for money going all over the world.



Lots and lots of poison are being released into the atmosphere e.g industrial smoke and plastic bags.





Thousands upon thousands of birds and animals are killed cruelly to make those chicken burgers and other non-vegetarian food items that many of us are so fond of.





We are constantly bombarded with solicitations and advertisements from all directions which brainwash us into believing that we can be happy in life if we drive expensive cars, look slim, own a big house and keep up with the latest fashion trends.









We are subtly and cunningly made to believe that it is “okay” and even “cool” to smoke, drink, party and be obsessed with how we want our bodies to look.





We are constantly exposed to violence, lust and aggressive music on television.





All the electronic items that are dumped don’t get recycled completely. Most of them make up a big part of the poisonous trash on the planet.



And by the way all this was supposed to make us “HAPPY”. Does it? Ofcourse not. Infact at the end of the day this kind of lifestyle leaves us deeply angry, frustrated, restless and full of despair.




Fortunately, we have GOOD NEWS. This materialistic way of living life which only aims at satisfying the five senses of the body at any cost is not the only option we have. We have another option. We have a choice of living life in a different way. It may not look very “attractive” to begin with. However, if adopted, this “other” lifestyle will surely give us that peace which we all long for along with a feeling of fulfillment.

Welcome to the VEDIC LIFESTYLE……..





Vedas are a vast bank of knowledge. This knowledge was gifted to the sages aeons ago at the beginning of creation for the upliftment and well being of all mankind. They are like the user manual for life.

However, it is not easy for everyone to read and understand the Vedas. There is one thing that all of us can do though. We can understand the basic values of the Vedic Culture.

1) Loving everyone irrespective of the differences.

2) Giving as much attention to the body as is needed for its healthy existence. Nothing more than that. Why? Because according to the Vedic Knowledge, we are not our bodies. We are merely using the bodies we have to live in this physical world temporarily. Hence, it makes no sense to be identified with the body or to be attached to it. The Vedas remind us to respect our bodies and take care of them however, to be detached from them at the same time.

3) Keep our desires and wants in check. This does not mean that we starve and suffocate ourselves. This simply means that we don’t get manipulated by the mind’s hundreds of desires. Whenever we “want” something, we must analyze whether we really need it. The lesser we desire, the lighter we feel.

4) Lovingly chant any name of God that we like with faith and love as much as we can during the day.

5) Refrain from killing animals. Eat a pure “sattwic” vegetarian diet which doesn’t excite the body and mind beyond what is needed. Avoid intoxication of any kind completely.

6) Use our discernment while watching tv and surfing the internet. Avoid sights, sounds and even smells of anger, lust, greed etc as much as we can.

7) Love and respect the planet and all life forms on it including plants and animals.

8) Do not compare our material possessions with those of others. Envy should be kept away. Be content and satisfied with whatever we have.

9) Try to know “who we are”. Who we really are is not our bodies or even our minds. We are sparks of God. We are waves and God is the ocean. Our real nature is pure love and bliss. We are divine beings. When we realize this, then we stop expecting happiness from things and people around us. We still use the things when needed and we still relate to people around us. However, we feel so fulfilled from within that we don’t expect happiness from anything or anyone. We focus more on serving, loving and giving rather than demanding and expecting.

10) Offer all our thoughts, words, actions and their fruits to God. This way we will be free from Karma and will be able to transcend the vicious circle of birth and death. Therefore, we will merge back with God and will not be forced to take another birth in this world which is full of suffering.

Ofcourse Vedic knowledge is too vast to be summarized in these 10 points or any number of points. However, these 10 points mentioned above should give a fair idea of what we are discussing here.
TRY IT. IT WORKS!!!!!!!!










Jai Jai Sri Radhe!
Servant of Radha Rani

Heal the world

Mother Earth is crying out for healing! Why? Because we have done every possible thing to give pain to her.

We have cut down the trees and forests.



We have polluted the water.



We have polluted the air.



We have shed so much blood due to religious intolerance, political differences and greed.



We have killed animals to satisfy our taste buds and for other selfish purposes like extracting leather from their skin etc.



We have butchered and disrespected the holiest of all animals, COW.



As a result, the world is a mess. There is disease, war, pollution, disharmony and imbalance everywhere.

We need to wake up and understand that we cannot keep using the animals, people and natural resources out of selfishness and greed. We have to use the resources wisely and only as much as needed. We have to love the animals and especially our fellow human beings.

We need to purify our hearts by invoking God's love.



We need to fill the world with more and more love. Love will bring true joy.



And once we have love and joy in our hearts, we will be able to live in perfect harmony with the animal kingdom and the plant kingdom. Then and only then will Mother Earth be truely healed.