Samyaung masrn'ito sha'nto mamatva'tishaya'unkitah
Bha'va sa' eva sa'ndra'tma' budhaeh prema nigadyate
"The attitude which makes the mind smooth and placid, and radiant with
the deepest love for the Lord, is called 'bha'va'. Wise people call this
'prema' or 'divine love'."
"Prema is the attraction for Parama Purus'a overcoming the attraction
for all other finite objects. Those who are endowed with such divine
love are bound to receive the grace of Parama Purus'a -- they need not
worry about it." (SS-18)
Of course most margiis understand that the use of the word 'love' in
Prabhat Samgiita does not have anything to do with general worldly love.
As we know the word 'love' is commonly misused these days. In various
English speaking countries like the US etc, you may often hear people
say, 'I love eating candy', or 'I love going to the movies', or 'I love
fishing', or even 'I love to read the newspaper' etc. In such
circumstances instead of using the term 'like' they use 'love'. This has
become the custom. So in western / European countries this type of dogma
regarding the use of 'love' is present. And in various other countries &
languages their word for 'love' is used primarily to express crude
attraction in the general society. Indeed, 99.9% of the time it is
misused in this way. They wrongly use 'love' in crude romance films. And
in day to day life they often employ the term love when speaking about
their laokik family relations also.
The point being that there are a very limited number of terms to express
'love' in the English language. So the word 'love' gets used in various
ways-- usually in the mundane sphere. That is why this entire
explanation and clarification was needed.
== WHY I CANNOT CONCENTRATE IN SADHANA ==
Namaskar,
We all know that the main reason for our coming on this earth is to do
sadhana-- that is the essence of this human life.
Baba says, "Human life is for higher pursuits, for something subtle,
something higher, something more elevated...What is a person to do? A
person is to do only spiritual practice, only sa'dhana'." (AV-30)
That is why when I am unable to concentrate in sadhana then I become
extremely concerned and I wonder why my mind was unable to manage my
meditation today.
A VERY UNLIKELY BUT TRUE ANSWER
To find the answer to this problem of poor sadhana, which seemed to be
getting more and more prevalent, I looked under every rock and in every
nook and corner, but it was not at all apparent to me what was wrong
until one acarya said, 'Maybe unknowingly you are eating tamasik food--
perhaps that is the reason why on some days you are unable to
concentrate in sadhana.'
Initially when he said this I thought he was crazy because I thought, 'I
never eat any tamasik food.'
But then-- upon closer examination of Baba's teachings and my own diet--
the sad fact came to light that I was indeed eating tamasik food,
unknowingly so. I came to know how things that I was regularly eating
like strawberries, yogurt, tomato sauce, broccoli, potatoes, and other
seemingly sentient items were indeed tamasik.
So I write this letter to alert everyone about how certain tamasik foods
might unknowingly creep into your diet and, in result, disturb if not
ruin your sadhana.
BABA SAYS: 'BE CAUTIOUS IN SELECTING FOOD'
In one very special discourse, Baba warns us to be very careful about
the food we eat.
Baba says, "The nature of food and drink has its effect upon the cells,
and consequently also influences the human mind. Obviously each and
every sa'dhaka, or spiritual aspirant, should be very cautious in
selecting food. Suppose a person takes ta'masika, or static, food. The
result will be that after a certain period, static cells will grow and
exercise a static influence on the aspirant’s mind." (YP)
Of course we all think we are being cautious; none of us think that we
are eating tamasik food; we all know the rules etc; but in this modern
era we must be extra, extra cautious.
Because various capitalist food corporations do things which can fool
even the best of us. Just as I thought I was not ingesting any tamasik
food, only to find out that in fact I was. Similarly, this may be
happening to you as well, though I hope not.
But we should be sure, because as Baba describes above, it is this very
tamasik food which cripples our sadhana practice.
HOW I WAS EATING TAMASIK FOOD-- WITHOUT KNOWING IT
And actually here Baba points out how people have the tendency to eat
foods without being entirely sure of the nature of that food, i.e.
whether it is sattvika, rajasik, or tamasik.
Baba says, "Very often people eat food without knowing its intrinsic
qualities. For example, the milk of a cow which has just given birth. Or
white eggplant, khesa'rii pulse [horse gram], red puni [Basella rubra
Linn.], or mustard leaves, all of which often grew out of rotten
matter." (YP)
So all these things come into play when taking food and that is how I
got caught up eating tamasik food, which was adversely affecting my
sadhana. Consider this:
1. I was using all kinds of milk and dairy products only to find out
that capitalist corporations, and even many small to mid-size farms use
milk from cows which have recently given birth. And according to Baba
that makes the milk tamasik. Even some organic farms fall into this
negative category. So all the organic yogurt, milk, and cheese I was
purchasing turned out to be totally tamasik. Indeed, in this modern era
of agro-business, one can never be sure that any particular glass of
milk is not tamasik. Because they mix the milk of hundreds of animals
into huge vats. So chances are tamasik milk is laced throughout their
entire stock. Because to maximise their profit, they use the milk of all
their cows, even those which recently gave birth. So that is one way
that I was unknowingly eating tamasik food.
2. Another problem that got exposed is that I was buying various frozen
and canned fruits and vegetables. On these packages, the ingredients are
only listed 'broccoli', or 'peas', or 'blueberries', or 'pears' etc. And
I was opening and quickly devouring these items thinking that they were
sentient. But one day when I began examining these foods more carefully,
I found that 10% - 25% of the food in the package was rotten. That means
when I let the frozen food defrost or when I separated canned items, it
was clearly visible that much of the food was rotten. It was spoiled
food that I would never knowingly eat if I was preparing a fresh meal.
But due to lack of time, I was buying and quickly preparing these
packaged fruits and vegetables-- obliviously thinking that they were
totally fine. Then on closer examination I saw first-hand how all, not
some, but all the packages were littered with stale or rotten food. By
this way, many of the fruits and vegetables I was eating were actually
tamasik.
2b. As an addendum to the above, all the canned and frozen items are
meant to be used "as they are". So we pour them into our cook pots and
eat that food. But upon inspecting the bags, I also often found dirt,
bugs, and insects in those products. Yet another unsavory tamasik food
item that was slipping into my diet.
2c. Likewise, I used to purchase an organic eggplant (brinjal) sauce
only to find out that it was made out of a mixture of both purple and
white eggplants. And as we know, white brinjal is tamasik.
3. Even then, the problem was not limited to frozen and canned items
only-- on multiple occasions I bought bags of fresh potatoes only to
cook them and find out that they tasted just like onions. Obviously
those agro-businesses were intermixing their onion and potato crops. The
problem was often times, before I realised that this was an issue, I was
putting those potatoes directly into my curry dishes, in which case I
was not aware of the onion after-taste or smell of the potatoes. So this
tamasik item proved to be another drawback in my sadhana program.
4. One other issue was bottled products. I was buying 'all natural'
things like tomato sauce, hummus, and various organic salad dressings,
only to discover months later that one of the ingredient was 'spices'.
Upon calling the company I found out that 'spices' often means tamasik
items like onions and garlic etc.
5. It also dawned on me that all of the restaurants (i.e. hotels in
India) that I was frequenting were using the very same pots, frypans,
and utensils for cooking meat as they were for preparing vegetarian
dishes. So when I ate Chinese food, the Chow Mein Beef was often cooked
in the very same pan as my vegetable fried rice. Not to mention that
often the vegetable fried rice and the wonton soup often contain a broth
based in chicken stock. Of course, at least I was aware about this one
ahead of time as I had asked the waiter. But the point about mixing and
using frypans for meat and vegetable dishes was my undoing every time.
Any Italian restaurants lace garlic and onions in every dish, whether
they admit it openly or not. Here the point is not Chinese or Italian,
but rather all restaurants have cooking and food preparing practices
that contravene our rules of sentient food.
6. One other issue that used to catch me off guard was attending 'pot
luck' dinners or lunches. This would happen at work or even at community
vegetarian events. With the best of intentions, people would prepare
"sentient" food for me, only to later mention things like, 'how did you
like the scallions in the soup', or 'the cake I made contained only
organic eggs', or 'I know you don't eat red-meat so I used a fish-based
sauce on the steamed vegetables'.
7. Then when traveling by bus or airplane, I was eating salty snacks &
sweets that sometimes contained milk solids, whey, 'spices', and
gelatin, or other things that we now know are tamasik.
8. Or, even trickier, the snack item or company food may be
all-vegetarian on the ingredient list, but then in fine print it may
say, 'Made on machines or in factories used for processing eggs, dairy,
or fish ingredients etc'.
Thus it was by all the above ways that I was unknowingly ingesting
tamasik foods on a regular basis. I thought I was taking a 100% sattvik
diet, but little did I know what was really going on. I hope the same is
not happening with you. Because I found out how detrimental it has been
for my sadhana, as well as for my physical health.
IT WAS RUINING MY SADHANA
Here Baba issues His grave warning how eating foods "indiscriminately"
will lead to the degeneration of mind.
Baba says, "If cells are affected by food and water, and if the nature
of the cells affects the nature of the human mind, obviously human
beings should eat the correct diet, because food and mind are closely
related to each other. Any food item, whether good or bad, must not be
taken indiscriminately because it may lead to mental degeneration." (YP)
Of course we all try and be careful, and we believe we are careful, and
when preparing our own foods from scratch with no pre-made ingredients,
then everything is usually fine. But often when traveling, or when
attending staff meetings, or when we are in a rush and depending on
company-made foods, then that is when all the problems start to occur.
Crude things which we could never imagine eating get mixed into our
food, unknowingly so. So we have to be extremely alert in this
fast-paced modern era.
We must think twice before purchasing or ingesting any company food--
and best is not to purchase it at all.
After all, the food we eat affects all our cells-- hence the body mind
link. We should not let tamasik items cloud and poison our mental
sphere. Yet that is what happens most of the time when we eat
company-made foods or agro-industry foods.
This is a vast topic and there are many other points such as using beef
by products to grow tomatoes. So everyone should research more and share
their findings.
BABA'S BLESSING
By Baba's grace He has given us the recipe for a sentient way of living
so that we can grow in sadhana and reach our cherished goal. So we
should all be vigilant to prep and cook our own foods and only share
meals with other Ananda Margiis.
Baba says, "Human beings must select sa'ttvika, or sentient, or
ra'jasika, or mutative, food according to time, place and person. This
will lead to the birth of sentient cells, which in turn will produce a
love for spiritual practice and help in attaining psychic equilibrium
and equipoise, leading to immense spiritual elevation." (YP)
Namaskar,
Ishvara
