[world-vedic] from tamasic food habits to sattvic food habits

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Alexandra wrote:

How can one change from primarily tamasic food to sattvic food?

Are there some rules one should follow when making this change?

When one changes one's food habits in this way, the body must learn to cope with

an entire different lifestyle.

Since rajas is the guna of activity, should one eat in the first time much rajas

food in order to make it more easy for the body to get accustomed to the new

situation?

 

Here are the replies to your questions from A C Bhaktivedata Swami Prabhupada's

Bhagavad-Gita As It Is.

 

Hope this meets to your requirements

 

Hare Krsna!

ys mahesh

 

 

Bg 17.8-10 T The Divisions of Faith

ayuh-sattva-balarogya- sukha-priti-vivardhanah

rasyah snigdhah sthira hrdya aharah sattvika-priyah

 

katv-amla-lavanaty-usna-

tiksna-ruksa-vidahinah ahara rajasasyesta

duhkha-sokamaya-pradah

 

yata-yamam gata-rasam puti paryusitam

ca yat ucchistam api camedhyam bhojanam

tamasa-priyam

 

SYNONYMS

 

Bg 17.8-10 S The Divisions of Faith ayuh--duration of life;

sattva--existence; bala--strength; arogya--health; sukha--happiness;

priti--satisfaction; vivardhanah--increasing; rasyah--juicy; snigdhah--fatty;

sthirah--enduring; hrdyah--pleasing to the heart; aharah--food;

sattvika--goodness; priyah--palatable. katu--bitter; amla--sour; lavana--salty;

ati-usna--very hot; tiksna--pungent; ruksa--dry; vidahinah--burning;

aharah--food; rajasasya--in the mode of passion; istah--palatable;

duhkha--distress; soka--misery; amaya pradah--causing disease. yata-yamam--food

cooked three hours before being eaten; gata-rasam--tasteless; puti--bad

smelling; paryusitam--decomposed; ca--also; yat--that which;

ucchistam--remnants of food eaten by others; api--also; ca--and;

amedhyam--untouchable; bhojanam--eating; tamasa--in the mode of darkness;

priyam--dear.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Foods in the mode of goodness increase the duration of life, purify one's

existence and give strength, health, happiness and satisfaction. Such

nourishing foods are sweet, juicy, fatty and palatable. Foods that are too

bitter, too sour, salty, pungent, dry and hot, are liked by people in the modes

of passion. Such foods cause pain, distress, and disease. Food cooked more than

three hours before being eaten, which is tasteless, stale, putrid, decomposed

and unclean, is food liked by people in the mode of ignorance.

 

PURPORT

 

The purpose of food is to increase the duration of life, purify the mind and

aid bodily strength. This is its only purpose. In the past, great authorities

selected those foods that best aid health and increase life's duration, such as

milk products, sugar, rice, wheat, fruits and vegetables. These foods are very

dear to those in the mode of goodness. Some other foods, such as baked corn and

molasses, while not very palatable in themselves, can be made pleasant when

mixed with milk or other foods. They are then in the mode of goodness. All

these foods are pure by nature. They are quite distinct from untouchable things

like meat and liquor. Fatty foods, as mentioned in the eighth verse, have no

connection with animal fat obtained by slaughter. Animal fat is available in

the form of milk, which is the most wonderful of all foods. Milk, butter,

cheese and similar products give animal fat in a form which rules out any need

for the killing of innocent creatures. It is only through brute mentality that

this killing goes on. The civilized method of obtaining needed fat is by milk.

Slaughter is the way of subhumans. Protein is amply available through split

peas, dal, whole wheat, etc. Foods in the mode of passion, which are bitter,

too salty, or too hot or overly mixed with red pepper, cause misery by

producing mucus in the stomach, leading to disease. Foods in the mode of

ignorance or darkness are essentially those that are not fresh. Any food cooked

more than three hours before it is eaten (except prasadam, food offered to the

Lord) is considered to be in the mode of darkness. Because they are

decomposing, such foods give a bad odor, which often attracts people in this

mode but repulses those in the mode of goodness. Remnants of food may be

eaten only when they are part of a meal that was first offered to the Supreme

Lord or first eaten by saintly persons, especially the spiritual master.

Otherwise the remnants of food are considered to be in the mode of darkness,

and they increase infection or disease. Such foodstuffs, although very

palatable to persons in the mode of darkness, are neither liked nor even

touched by those in the mode of goodness. The best food is the remnants of what

is offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In Bhagavad-gita the Supreme

Lord says that He accepts preparations of vegetables, flour and milk when

offered with devotion. Patram puspam phalam toyam. Of course, devotion and love

are the chief things which the Supreme Personality of Godhead accepts. But it is

also mentioned that the prasadam should be prepared in a particular way. Any

food prepared by the injunctions of the scripture and offered to the Supreme

Personality of Godhead can be taken even if prepared long, long ago, because

such food is transcendental. Therefore to make food antiseptic, eatable and

palatable for all persons, one should offer food to the Supreme Personality of

Godhead.

 

Bg 9.26 T The Most Confidential Knowledge

patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya

prayacchati tad aham bhakty-upahrtam

asnami prayatatmanah

 

SYNONYMS

 

patram--a leaf; puspam--a flower; phalam--a fruit; toyam--water;

yah--whoever; me--unto Me; bhaktya--with devotion; prayacchati--offers;

tat--that; aham--I; bhakti-upahrtam--offered in devotion; asnami--accept;

prayata-atmanah--of one in pure consciousness.

 

TRANSLATION

 

If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I

will accept it.

 

PURPORT

 

Here Lord Krsna, having established that He is the only enjoyer, the primeval

Lord, and the real object of all sacrificial offerings, reveals what types of

sacrifices He desires to be offered. If one wishes to engage in devotional

service to the Supreme in order to be purified and reach the goal of life--the

transcendental loving service of God--then he should find out what the Lord

desires of him. One who loves Krsna will give Him whatever He wants, and he

avoids offering anything which is undesirable or unasked for. Thus, meat, fish

and eggs should not be offered to Krsna. If He desired such things as

offerings, He would have said so. Instead He clearly requests that a leaf,

fruit, flowers and water be given to Him, and He says of this offering, "I will

accept it." Therefore, we should understand that He will not accept meat, fish

and eggs. Vegetables, grains, fruits, milk and water are the proper foods for

human beings and are prescribed by Lord Krsna Himself. Whatever else we eat

cannot be offered to Him, since He will not accept it. Thus we cannot be acting

on the level of loving devotion if we offer such foods. In the Third Chapter,

verse thirteen, Sri Krsna explains that only the remains of sacrifice are

purified and fit for consumption by those who are seeking advancement in life

and release from the clutches of the material entanglement. Those who do not

make an offering of their food, He says in the same verse, are said to be

eating only sin. In other words, their every mouthful is simply deepening their

involvement in the complexities of material nature. But preparing nice, simple

vegetable dishes, offering them before the picture or Deity of Lord Krsna and

bowing down and praying for Him to accept such a humble offering, enable one to

advance steadily in life, to purify the body, and to create fine brain tissues

which will lead to clear thinking. Above all, the offering should be made with

an attitude of love. Krsna has no need of food, since He already possesses

everything that be, yet He will accept the offering of one who desires to

please Him in that way. The important element, in preparation, in serving and

in offering, is to act with love for Krsna. The impersonalist philosophers,

who wish to maintain that the Absolute Truth is without senses, cannot

comprehend this verse of Bhagavad-gita. To them, it is either a metaphor or

proof of the mundane character of Krsna, the speaker of the Gita. But, in

actuality, Krsna, the Supreme Godhead, has senses, and it is stated that His

senses are interchangeable; in other words, one sense can perform the function

of any other. This is what it means to say that Krsna is absolute. Lacking

senses, He could hardly be considered full in all opulences. In the Seventh

Chapter, Krsna has explained that He impregnates the living entities into

material nature. This is done by His looking upon material nature. And so in

this instance, Krsna's hearing the devotee's words of love in offering

foodstuffs is wholly identical with His eating and actually tasting. This point

should be emphasized: because of His absolute position, His hearing is wholly

identical with His eating and tasting. Only the devotee, who accepts Krsna as

He describes Himself, without interpretation, can understand that the Supreme

Absolute Truth can eat food and enjoy it.