A thought for Food & food for Thought - Part 5 of 7

[Guest guest]

(continuing from Part 4)

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Dear friends,

 

Then there is Food that is fit only for the Man of

"rajas" -- i.e. for him who is of Dionysian character,

who is filled with restless energy, constantly being

driven to action by powerful passions and impatient

inner drives, who wants to conquer the world or change

it, be a leader of men and of the times...

 

Such men, says the Bhagavath-Gita, will need a dietary

regime that will keep the inner engines of their

"rajasic" personality running full steam on all

cylinders. The general diet of such men will tend to

consist of Food that is bitter, sour, very salty,

exceedingly spicy and pungent, dry and burning

(Chapter XVII.9).

 

Judging by the standards of the Bhagavath-Gita, much

of what the modern world of today eats is essentially

of the "rajasic" grade. It is meaty, greasy, spicy,

rich, palate-tingling, tangy, aromatic, irresistibly

tasty... In a word, it is all that the popular

expression "yummy, yummy!" might suggest to us!

"Rajasic" cuisine is essentially meant to titillate

and satiate deep-seated instincts of the gourmet and

it is the reason hence why it is extremely tempting.

It is very easy in fact to over-eat and over-indulge

in the full range of "rajasic" foods available in the

world today -- hamburgers, sausages, steak, pizzas,

pasta, enchilladas, biriyAni, exotic chocolates,

caramel, creamy pastries and so on and so forth...

 

If we understood well the nature of "rajasic" foods

we would not fail to also understand why millions of

children and teenagers in the world quickly fall in

love with and become slaves to all kinds of "junk

food" pedalled by any number and all manner of

"fast-food" chains and restaurants. If over-eating and

obesity are fast assuming alarming proportions as

health-hazards throughout the world, it is mainly

because of the enormous content of "rajas" in the Food

the people eat.

 

The amount of "rajasic" food that is over-eaten and

over-indulged in the world is exceeded only by the

huge amounts of it that is also criminally wasted. If

one were to take a census of all the "fast-food"

chains in the world and of all the hotels, restaurants

and eating-joints, and then actual stock is taken of

the heaps of "left-overs", "throw-aways" and discarded

foodstuff which all ultimately find their way into

millions of trash-cans and garbage-dumps in the

world... If one could visualize all that, it would not

be difficult at all to imagine the colossal amounts of

food being wasted away daily in our own lifetime. If

one were to impute an economic value to all the food

so discarded in the world today, it would be quite

enough indeed to set up yet another UN Food and

Agriculture Organization, another FAO!

 

It was keeping in mind the mammoth potential for Food

wastage on a global-scale, especially of the "rajasic"

variety, that the Upanishad warned -- "annam na

pari-chaksheeta!"

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(to be continued)

 

Rgds,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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