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Glorious Food
Article submitted by Keshava Devi Dasi,Hare Krishna Belfast,Radha Madhava Mandir,UK Ireland.
Would you like to be strong, healthy, satisfied and long-lived?
If so, be careful what you eat!
In any health-food shop, you'll find scores of books full of diet-plans and the latest nutritional discoveries for a long and healthy life, but the Bhagavad-Gita beat them all to it thousands of years ago. It offers better value too, as it considers the effects of food on not just the body, but on the mind, body and soul.
(You may wonder how food can affect the soul, in which case read on and discover how the way to a man's soul is through his stomach!)
A ccording to Chapter Fourteen of Bhagavad-Gita we are all affected by the three different qualities of material nature:- goodness, passion and ignorance. In fact everything in the material world is controlled by these three "modes". If we take the different times of day for example; the early hours of the morning, when everything is peaceful and fresh, is ruled by goodness; the middle of the day , full of activity, as we bustle to get the day's work done, is in passion and the evening and nighttime, when darkness comes and we are tired and fall asleep, they are in the mode of ignorance. Our mood and activities and the whole way we feel are affected by these different times of day, without us having much to do with it.
Colours provide another clear illustration of this; the primary ones,yellow, red and blue are ruled by goodness, passion and ignorance respectively and it doesn't take a colour therapist to tell us what effect they have on our mood. Yellow uplifts us, red inspires agression and we all know what it is to feel "blue"!
The Gita encourages us to cultivate the quality of goodness for a happy, healthy life and as a platform for practising spiritual life, which can't be done in passion or ignorance Food is specifically mentioned in regard to these three qualities, as what we take into our bodies has a particularly strong effect on us. Nutritionists may tell us what vitamins, minerals and enzymes we need for the chemical functioning of our body, but they don't give attention to the subtle energy of different foods and how they affect the whole quality of our lives, mental, emotional, and physical. Here's what Bhagavad-Gita has to say:-
Foods with the quality of goodness
"increase the duration of life, purify one's existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such foods are juicy, fatty, wholesome and pleasing to the heart".
Fruits, vegetables, grains, milk products, honey - these are foods in goodness, especially if they are fresh. And Vedic standards of fresh are high. An Indian friend recently described to me, how as a young woman, she and her mother would daily stonegrind wheat into flour for the days' meals, which produced a delicious flavour and preserved all the goodness of the wheat. Milk was used fresh from the days' milking - some churned into butter, some made into fresh cheese and other dishes. If any was left over by night-time, it would be made into yogurt and used the next day. Fruits and vegetables were purchased daily from the market, where the locally grown produce was freshly harvested and free from pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
This is the ideal of food in the quality of goodness. It may be a little difficult for us to achieve, but the nearer we can come to it the more we benefit. The Bhagavad-Gita describes that people in the mode of goodness are clear-thinking, "see things as they are", and aren't disturbed by the ups and downs of life.
Next described, are foods in the mode of passion, which are:-
"too bitter, too sour, salty, hot, pungent, dry and burning. Such foods cause distress, misery and disease".
This includes onions, garlic, chillies, hot peppers, vinegar-based, sauces etc. If we become governed by this mode, we develop a great eagerness for material enjoyment, becoming greedy and ambitious and always wanting more. We quickly become angry if our desires are frustrated.
Foods which are tamasic or in ignorance, comprise;
"Food prepared more than three hours before being eaten, food that is tasteless, decomposed and putrid and food consisting of untouchable things".
Now, if we take a look around our nearest super-market, we can see what a large amount of shelf-space, is given to foods in the mode of ignorance:- a large meat counter of decomposing flesh, walls of tinned foods and packaged foods; frozen foods (which decompose very quickly after defrosting). Even the milk is days old and the cheese of the aged, mouldy variety. Alcohol, cigarettes and other intoxicants are also tamasic.
By eating foods in the mode of ignorance, we take on the qualities of that mode:- dullness, lethargy, depression, confusion, dissatisfaction with one's lot, frustration, anger, feeling like a victim and blaming others are some of the symptoms , as well as a complete lack of interest in developing the higher, nobler qualities of a civilized being.
Instead of being active for the benefit of themselves and others, people in the mode of ignorance are likely to be found sitting in front of the TV or behind a pint in the pub!
If we examine our own diet in the light of this information, we can see what quality of life we're giving ourselves by the food we eat; we can also see what effect the national diet has on our society!
But there's yet another dimension to the subject of "you are what you eat":-
Devotees of Krishna prepare dishes using the freshest, vegetarian ingredients and with attention to cleanliness, which is also a symptom of goodness. But most important of all is the consciousness in which they cook. When food is cooked with love and devotion, by people in spiritual consciousness, as an offering to God, then it has an especially potent and spiritually purifying effect on anyone who eats it. Conversely, if the cook has anxiety, anger, envy , greed etc. he will infuse the food with that emotion.
Many times, we've seen rough and aggressive people become peaceful and gentle, as their hearts are softened by regularly eating prasadam. It's this dimension that makes our Food for Life programme particularly satisfying to us as we not only feed the needy, but simultaneously help the unfortunate become fortunate.
To help us make it more interesting for you, please write and tell us what you would like to read; any issues you would like addressed or questions answered. And if you have any suggestions, comments or advice to give on how we can improve, please let us know that too!
We'd also like to thank all of you who have given us your support throughout the year; whether with gifts and donations for Food for Life and towards maintaining the temple or through time and energy given to help out with our various projects. We appreciate your friendship very much and look forward to a new year of working together to serve Krishna.
Keshava devi dasi
Page last updated
18 July, 2002
© 2002 International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Founder-Acharya His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada