Monday, July 14, 2008

On the “Hindu diet”


Most of the nutrition sites out there, I don't find that useful, because they're for people who mostly eat American food. But many of them do have the right information, in terms of basic principles. Maybe I can turn this blog into a nutrition/cooking site more aimed at people like me who eat mostly Indian/Asian food.

There are, of course, tons of books that cater to this group, especially with a spiritual slant, like about the “yogic” diet or eating for prana shakti or life force.

When I was little, Swamiji used to explain to me that prana shakti is the real reason yogis advocated a vegetarian diet: when you eat plant foods, especially when you eat them raw, you are eating something with prana shakti or life force. Literally, a spinach leaf in your salad is photosynthesizing and “breathing,” and it’s better and more saatvic to consume living food as opposed to dead food.

A Hindu prayer to be said before a meal (kind of analogous to the Christian “Our Father who art in heaven… Give us this day our daily bread” prayer) is:
Brahmaarpanam brahmahavirbrahmaagnau brahmanaa hutam;
Brahmaiva tena gantavyam brahmakarmasamaadhinaa.


It’s from the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 4, verse 24, and means:
Brahman is the giving, Brahman the Food Offering;
by Brahman it is Offered into the Brahman fire,
Brahman is that which is to be Attained
by complete Absorption (samadhi) in Brahman Action.

(Another translation is, "Brahman is the oblation; Brahman is the melted butter (ghee); by Brahman is the oblation poured into the fire of Brahman; Brahman verily shall be reached by him who always sees Brahman in action.")

In other words, Brahman / the Infinite / God / the Creator / all Creation (there are various different understandings of what is meant by Brahman), is everything – the giver of the food, the food itself, the offeror and the “digest-er”/consum-er (the fire), what results from the consumption, the action by which the consumed is absorbed, etc.

The idea is, we may think we’re individual living souls, but we’re really all sparks of what is one living electricity. So why not eat something that pulses with life as opposed to something rock-like and static?

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