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Vishnu_reflections
Tuesday,January19,2016 Followers

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Choiceoffood:

Nowadaysthechoiceoffoodhasbecomeacontroversialsubject,
which raged in social media a few months ago, with some controversial Alreadyamember?Signin

laws passed by Government banning certain food items. I strongly

recommendfreedomofchoiceoffoodofanindividual.Butwhen BlogArchive

itcomestospirituallife,thechoiceoffoodiscompletelynarroweddown. 2016(37)
Again,itcompletelydependsontheattitudeofthespiritualaspirant.The July(2)

foodwhichaBhaktaintakeswillbecompletelyatvariancewiththatofa June(2)

Jnani. Again it will be completely different with that of a Yogi. So it all May(3)
April(8)
dependsontheattitudeandthemodeofspiritualpracticeofanaspirant.
March(5)
Inthispost,thefoodoptionforaYogiisdiscussed.
February(8)
January(9)
Yogisviewoflife: FacebookFalsebook.
VedantaTheSearchForOne.
Yoga begins with the perception of pain in objects ( EventDrivenProgramminginManfor






2.15 Yoga Sutras). In SelfRevelatio...
PreservingVitalEnergiesTheKeyto
thisaphorism,fourkindsofpainarediscussed. HigherLife...
MotherofAllConflicts:Analysisand
Resolution.
1.ParinamaDukha:
SwachhBharatBhaktiand
EnvironmentalPollution...
Purushaispureconsciousness.Manbecauseofhisdefective YogicdietExploringfoodoptionsfora
Meditati...
configuration looks for objects outside in Prakriti. The problem is that
Samkhya:Thesolutionforallproblems
mansearchesforpureconsciousnessinPrakriti.Helooksforpermanence inlife.
outside. He looks for infinite outside. The search for pure Doweexistinreality?

consciousnessinPrakritiisthereasonwhyweareinfatuated
2015(25)
by seeing a beautiful woman and why we are infatuated by
iPhonesandotherobjects.Whathappensthen? AboutMe

VishnuShankar
TherewillbeamismatchorthePurushawhichisinherentin Follow 8

manwillfailtosyncwiththeseeminglypureconsciousnessofthePrakriti Viewmycomplete
outside.Prakritihasalimitation.Itislimitedinenergyandsubjectedto profile

space and time. For example, when I search for pure

consciousness in Prakriti, my eyes fell on a chocolate. I
wantedtofillmyPurushawiththeseeminglyPurushanature
ofthechocolate.Irelishacoupleofchocolates.ButPurushaisinfinite,
and so I demand an infinite number of chocolates. So I demand more
chocolates and my system can take a maximum of five. There is a
limitation of time, space, and energy in Prakriti. And when I take more
 thanfive,therewillbeatroubleinmystomach.Therecomesaparinama
or the maturity of pleasure into pain while pursuing Purusha or pure
consciousnessinPrakriti.ThisiscalledParinamaDukha.

2.TapaDukha:

The second kind of misery is the need for more. We again keep
searching for infinite in Prakriti and the inability to fill the pure
consciousness of Purusha with the seemingly pure consciousness of
PrakritiistheTapaDukha.Webecomerestlessforobjects.Weknowwe
dont want them but still we go after them and suffer. Inherent thirst
forobjectsandtheinabilitytofillthepureconsciousnesswith
objectsiscalledTapaDukha.

3.SamskaraDukha:

Samskaradukkhaisthesufferingarisingoutofourpasthabits.
Past habits also refer to the habits acquired in the past births and
continuetoexploitusinthispresentlife.Thepasthabitscanbereplaced
by the present ones. And this kind of misery can be resolved in our
presentlife.

4.GunaVrittiVirodha:

AsIsaidintheearlierpost,thegunaskeepchangingandthe
resultisthepain.OnlythestateofSattvaisfreefrompain.Whengunas
changemangetsconfused.Prakritiactsthroughthesethreegunasandthe
only way out is to maintain a sattvic state which reflects the pure
consciousness.

Therefore, the goal of a yogi is to avoid any future pain (

2.16YogaSutras).So,theyogiperceivespaineverywhere.He

perceives all being to be suffering from the same fate. Therefore, the
Yogi is careful about certain objects (food) which are
attractive.Becauseattractioninvariablybringsaboutmisery.

Thebodyisconsideredasasacredthingand,therefore,oughttobe
usedforthesakeofattainingliberationorfreedomfrompain.When the
body gets hurt or injured it becomes a bar to the liberation process.
Hurtingabodyorinflictingpainonothersbarstheprogressofthevictim
towardsliberation.Keepingwiththisviewinmind,theYogidoesntharm
or kill. Therefore, the food choices for a Yogi would be
obviouslyfreefromtheflesh.

What about plants? Are you killing them? They too suffer and get
hurt,whenyoucutthem,thescienceexperimentshowsthat.Iwouldsay
thereisahugedifference.Thesensorysystemsarenotcompletely
evolved in plants and it doesnt have a brain or the central
nervoussystemtobeabletoreacttothepaininflicted.Thepain
generatedis,therefore,negligible.Whereasanimalshaveallthesystems
mentionedaboveand,therefore,theysufferpain.

Foodbynature:

AccordingtoGita,foodbyitsnaturecanbeclassifiedintothree.
They are Sattvic food, Rajasic food, and Tamasic food. When we take
thosefoods,thecorrespondingnaturewillprevailinus.Sattvicreferstoa
calmandmeditativestate,andthesattvicfoodhelpsinmaintainingthat
state. Rajasic foods are those which sets in motion and exerts the body
towards sensory activity. Rajasic food is for sense bound activity.
Whereas, Tamasic food leads to tamasic qualities like sleep, injuring
others or killing, anger etc. It leads to the typical characteristic of the
criminals.

Sattvicfoodreferstothepureandhealthyfood,pleasing
to the system and light. Foods which are extremely acidic,
salty, spicy, pungent and bitter etc. are Rajasic foods. They
induce sense bound activity and leads to misery as a result.
Foodswhicharehalfcooked,insipid,stale,tasteless,polluting
and contaminated or leftovers from someone constitute
Tamasicfood.Theyinducecriminallikequalities.

Sortingdown:

Wewillnowsortoutthefinallistoffoodwhichisconduciveto
Yoga and the list of food which is not. We have seen the philosophy
behind Yoga and we have explained the three kinds of food by nature.
Hereisthefinallist.

DonttaketheseitemsifyouaspireforYoga:

1.Beef,Mutton,Chickenandallkindsofflesh.

Allflesh

2.Allalcoholicitemsandcigarettes.

Tasmac.
 Smokingkillsothers.

3.Allspiceitems.

Lavanga

Spiceleavesandbark

Cardamon

4.OnionGarlicetc.

OnionGarlic

5.Sweetsthatarecolorfulandattractive:

AttractiveSweets

Taketheseitems:

Fruits,Idly,Dal,Riceetc.Curd,Milkandmilkproducts.

Idly
 Fruits

Vegetables.

MilkandMilkProducts.

Again, I would like to reiterate the statement the freedom of choice of

foodofanindividual,andagainitdependsontheattitudeofthespiritual
practitioner.Butaboveisthedefiniteguideforfoodwhichareconducive
tothepracticeofYoga,

ThankYou.


PostedbyVishnuShankarat5:00AM

1 comment

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Top comments

Br. Jagadishachaitanya - Prasad 5 months ago

"The problem is that man searches for pure consciousness in Prakriti." - This is
a very interesting observation and found to be true. Actually the pain is in
desiring the object. It creates a vacuum in infinite space that tends to suffocate
where as in reality, there is infinite space and never a limit. I wish we could stay
in the feeling that comes in "wanting in the infinite" and abide in that. But yes,
not till our petty desires are done away with.

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