Zen: The Art of Nothing

One of the most commonly debated topics is probably the vegetarian-non-vegetarian one. One will rarely reach a conclusion because food is something a lot of people identify with. And as long as you identify with something, you cannot transcend it.

What is food?

Have you ever realized that what is on your plate today will be a part of your body tomorrow? Food is not just nourishment or nutrition. It is what our body is eventually made of. The quality of the food you eat, will decide the quality of your body and mind tomorrow. They didn’t say ‘you are what you eat’ just like that.

Do I have to be a vegetarian to be spiritual?

Short answer, no.

However, if you are serious about your spiritual practice, it would be very helpful to adhere to a satvik diet as much as possible. A satvik diet is one that will support your spiritual practice, providing your body with high vibrating building blocks. This means no over-eating and no low vibration foods.

What are low-vibration foods?

People have gotten stuck with the belief that only non vegetarian food is bad. Vegetarians can be eating very bad food too.

Several foods can be vibrating with poor energies

• Foods prepared when the cook is upset, angry or tired
• Foods that are frozen, canned, or processed in any other way are nearly dead and have no energy
• Cooked foods that are more than 3-5 hours old.
• The vibration of foods from high to low, goes roughly in this order-
  leaves, fruits, vegetables, cereal, milk products, pickles, eggs, fish, poultry, mutton, pork, beef
• I know from seeing people’s auras that beef significantly dulls one’s energies.

How do I raise the vibration of my food?

Here are a few tips

• Eat raw, fresh, chemical free foods as much as possible
• If possible, cook your own food and eat it within 3 hours of cooking
• Enjoy your food. Take the time to involve all your senses – look at the food, smell it, eat with your hands if possible and feel the texture and then of course, the taste
• Let mealtimes be meditation times. Avoid distractions, and conversations or tv programs that trigger strong reactions
• Don’t make food an issue. Today we travel a lot and if food preferences are going to take you away from the present, then the whole exercise is pointless. Be flexible.

We had an interesting talk by an ayurvedic doctor yesterday. Although I knew much of what he shared with us, I realised that a lot in our group found the information completely surprising. So I share here the highlights of what I remember from the talk. Much of the information is tailored for South Indians.

Much of our eating habits are dictated by studies conducted on the opposite end of the planet. The vegetation, the weather, the genes and a whole lot of other factors are radically different from ours. Therefore, what is good for them is not necessarily good for us. That man’s food, in this case, is literally this man’s poison. Here’s how –

• It is important to eat local: Rice is important for Bangaloreans

  If you live in Bangalore, rice should be a predominant part of your meals if you are a south Indian. If you are a north Indian, genes come in, so it should be rice 50% of the time and wheat the other 50%.

• White rice has no nutrition at all, zero. It is polished 7 times before it reaches you. Semi polished (the light brown) rice contains 85% of the nutrition. The red coloured rice contains all nutrients. Water should preferably NOT be drained out. Draining of water is good only if one is using par boiled rice.

  For those using wheat, annapurna, ashirwad and other branded flours often use a process of milling the flour that makes them equivalent to maida (refined flour). Put a heap of wheat flour on your counter and pour some water on it. Leave for an hour. If it is hard to clean your counter, it is going to be hard for your body to clean your intestines.

• Millets are very important

  Try working in ragi, jowar and bajra into your meals. Tremendously nutritious, they heal and nourish your body. AND they are local food. Since millets grow well even in harsh conditions, and because their demand is low, they are quite commonly grown without much pesticides. So you don’t even have to worry about buying organic millet.

• Oil: Cold pressed oils are best, Sesame and coconut oils for Bangaloreans

  Excessive use of mustard oil is a big no no. It is meant for cold places. We’re tropical, warm and humid. Sesame and coconut oils are best. Refined oils take out all nutrition from the food and are practically useless, apart from the fact that the process of refining converts them to transfats (Oils are heated upto 450 degrees and shocked into cold temperatures during refining. Their boiling point is 120 degrees). Oils should be cold pressed, and heated only once, which means you throw it away if you use it for deep frying.

• Oats, Soya and Apples are not for you if you live in the tropics

  Oats loosen the intestines and are great to eat where the weather is cold – and the intestines shrink and tighten. Where it is hot and humid, it causes the large intestines to lose their capacity to transfer food from one point to another, since muscles don’t work anymore. So, food will sit there and rot.

  Soya is very high protein, but it also has many many toxins. Apart from this is the fact that if it (or it’s seeds) is coming from the USA then it is almost surely genetically modified and not even percieved by the body as food. Furthermore, it is a commonly known fact that soya causes hormonal changes. Women eventually start having heavier periods and men develop breasts. Soya has a feminising effect on the body, to the extent of causing severe imbalances.

  Are you aware that the Apples you bought recently are probably around a year old? Ever stopped to wonder where the apples are grown? And which season they were harvested? By the time you eat an apple it is probably long dead. If you’ve eaten fresh apples, you know what real apples taste like. The apples you get in the market taste nothing like that. Again, apples are winter fruits. Not to be eaten throughout the year.

• Salads are for cold countries

  When temperatures go higher than 16 degrees celcius, it allows bacteria to grow. People living in countries colder than that would do well to eat salads. Otherwise you are consuming a whole lot of germs that aren’t good for you.

• Fruits

  Fruits are best eaten 1.5 hours before or after meals. Again, fruits should be eaten according to season. Bananas, papayas and pomogranates grow all year and can be consumed as such. Everything else, wait for the right season. Google it if you have no idea if a fruit grows in the current season. When you eat fruits, try not to mix fruits, just eat one type at a time.Dry fruits are good for the body, best soaked overnight. 3-4 almonds are good for an adult, soaked overnight and peeled, because the peel is not good (forgot why).

• Seasonal eating

  Leafy greens are best during summer, avoid anything that grows under the ground, during the rains and eat root vegetables during the winter.

• Non Vegetarian food

  Meat is not good for you (but we knew that already didn’t we?) because the way they are killed induces severe fear in them, which douses their muscles in adrenaline. This adrenaline does not go away with cooking, it goes straight to your system and makes you far more stress prone than your vegetarian self. Unless you get plenty of exercise after eating meat, it doesn’t get digested properly.

 

Apart from the things he spoke about, here are some things I follow –

• A good, well balanced meal would contain all 6 tastes – sweet, salty, bitter, astringent, sour and pungent. (Read more about the 6 tastes and the related foods). If that is too much information to remember, just make sure you get all colours in the plate. It is also great to ensure you get all possible textures on the plate.

• Make sure you avoid drinking water half an hour before, and half an hour after food. Drinking water or juices while eating dilutes digestive juices and will give you a heartburn or acidity problem later on. If you must, sip half a glass of warm water while eating. Absolutely avoid cold beverages.

• Ginger tea is extremely good to improve digestion. Pour boiling water over ginger and pour it into a flask. Take a few sips whenever you like. It helps especially those who suffer from acidity and heart burns.

• Eating a small piece of jaggery after meals improves iron absorption.

• How you cook the food matters a lot in the vibration it carries. If you are angry or upset, take a few moments off, relax, and then cook. Chanting mantras or prayers during food has a deeply healing effect on the person who consumes it. If you practice Reiki or a similar form of healing, ensure you heal the food before you eat.

• Mealtimes are best treated as meditation times and if you avoid watching television or discussing subjects that trigger emotional responses while eating, it will ensure that your food remains as clear of polluting vibrations, as possible.

• Avoid Processed/ Packaged Foods
  Eat natural. Almost any processing of food takes away nutrition. In addition to this, most packaged foods contain excessive amounts of salts and sugars to make them tasty. Not only does this lead to associated health problems, but also causes our salt and sugar thresholds to increase, which means we will consume more salt and sugar on a daily basis. Scientific studies now indicate that the chemicals used to preserve foods damage health in the long term.

‘Ahimsa’ or Non-violence are words that are typically associated with Gandhiji. And the Independence struggle. But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m not talking about Ahimsa as a policy – I’m talking about it as a way of life.

I was in Rishikesh a few weeks ago and had the good fortune of meeting Swamini Mayatitananda. I’d read her book long ago and have great respect for her. Hearing her speak was a dream come true. The main topic of her talk was Ahimsa, bringing non-violence into our lives.

Violence is prevalent in three main forms. The most violence is in our FOOD. This is followed by thoughts, words and actions.

Violence in Food
Food? So I must be talking about becoming vegetarian, right? Wrong. Although Mayaji strongly suggests that path, the views I’m expressing here are a wee bit different.

‘The Tiger is not a violent animal – it kills only when it is hungry’. Hunger is a natural urge – nature meant you to fulfil it. Carnivores are not violent, because they are only satisfying their hunger, and playing their vital role in retaining and maintaining nature’s balance. So what does all this mean? It means that Whenever you over-eat, you are being violent. If you pride yourself on being vegetarian, and you overeat – remember that every grain, every leaf you eat, is a morsel of food snatched from a hungry mouth, whether animal or man. How can you claim to be a ‘vegetarian’ then? You still kill!

It doesn’t matter what you eat – what matters is how much. If you eat to satisfy your hunger, very good. But the moment you start eating to satisfy your appetite, eating to satisfy your gastronomic desires – you are doing something unnatural and violent.

Plants do get hurt. Plants scream when a leaf is plucked insensitively. But here’s news – they’re silent when animals come to eat their leaves! Nature meant to feed every hungry mouth. Yours too. But it didn’t provide for over-indulgence, for insensitive satisfaction of desires. The next time you overeat, come online, and google for some pictures of the starving children in Africa. Why, even the plastic bags that you dispose off carelessly end up getting stuck in cow’s throats and killing them. Please be more sensitive and responsible!