6.Eat Limited Food - M Rajya Sri

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6.Eat Limited Food - M Rajya Sri

 

`What does your husband do?' Rani asked Leela. `He feels hungry, as

soon as he gets up. He feels sleepy as soon as he eats.'

 

In one word we eat a lot and sleep a lot. As soon as we get up, we

drink coffee, within half an hour we have our breakfast then step

out of our house, we meet a friend on the way, go to a hotel with

him and eat some tiffin again, somebody in the office has a reason

to celebrate, offers sweet and hot, we gobble them without

hesitation, we have our regular lunch, in the evening, on the way

back home we visit our friend's house and eat samosas there and at

night we have an elaborate meal again. This list does not include

the 10 to 12 cups of coffee throughout. If somebody says `How can

you eat so much?' we say `Don't worry, I have a separate sack for

snacks!'

 

Should we eat so much? Did God design us eat so much? No! Most of

the creatures created by God eat only once! Only man eats from early

morning to late in the night and that's why we have the simile` He

eats like a pig.'

 

God has explained in the Geetha thus "Oh Arjuna! This Dhyana Yoga

can neither be attained by one who overeats nor by one who observes

a complete fast; by one who sleeps too much or is ceaselessly awake."

 

Too much of anything is too bad. The younger generation today pulls

the strings too far. One day they eat non-stop and keep awake all

the 24 hours. The next day they starve totally and sleep all

the 24 hours. Both are wrong! Why do our grandfathers have good

health? How can they read small print without using spectacles? It

is because they eat at regular intervals, they eat limited food and

they slept at regular timings and woke up early. If they had a heavy

lunch, they

skipped their dinner or just had curd rice. That's all!

 

A man was eating heavily in a marriage hall. After some time, he was

refusing certain items saying he was full. Then suddenly laddus were

offered. He asked for half a dozen of them. His friend was surprised

at his behaviour and asked how he could eat so many when he hardly

had a breathing place. Then he explained. `Look! An exhibition

ground is fully packed with people. There is not an inch of space to

move about. Then suddenly the king lands there with his

courtiers. Won't they move at once and give him and his party place

to come to the centre? The same way the stomach will clear its way

for my laddus.!

 

naty-asnatas tu yogo `sti

 

a caikantam anasnatah

 

na cati-svapna-silasya

 

jagrato naiva carjuna Bhagavad Geetha 6- 16

 

na—never; ati—too much; asnatah—of one who eats; tu—but; yogah—

linking with the Supreme; asti—there is; na—nor; ca—also; ekantam—

overly; anasnatah—abstaining from eating; na—nor; ca—also; ati—too

much; svapna-silasya—of one who sleeps; jagratah—or one who keeps

night watch too much; na—not; eva—ever; ca—and; arjuna—O Arjuna.

 

There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one

eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep

enough.

 

Krishna says "Dhyana Yoga is not possible for those who eat more."

Any yoga is a path that leads us to God. To practice yoga `samam

kaya sirogreevam' - the body, the head and the neck

cannot be kept in a straight line, if we eat excess of food. We feel

lethargy or sleepy. To attain the realization of soul we have to

cross in meditation the boundaries of the physical body, the sense

organs and the mind but we are stuck at thethreshold itself! The

same rule applies when we don't eat at all! `A sound mind in a sound

body'. A sound body is maintained by the proper amount of food we

eat.

 

The same way we should follow limited sleeping hours. Too much of

sleep deprives us of many useful hours in our day and too much of

sleeplessness drains our energy. Thus there are two thieves closely

following us - food and sleep. We need them badly but we should not

be

treated badly by them. They are needed not only for Yoga but to

attain any goal in our life.

 

Limited food is defined thus -

 

`Dwou Bhagau pooraye dannai toyee naikam prapoorayeth

 

Marutasya pracharartham chaturdamavaseshayeth !'

 

Half of our stomach should be filled with food, one fourth with

water and another one fourth should be free for a free movement of

air.

 

This leads us to the five dharmas of the body to be followed by us

as per Natural Life Style. They are dharma of water, dharma of food,

dharma of exercise, dharma of rest and dharma of excretion. Air is

our first requirement and luckily God has made arrangements for that

without our effort. The second requisite is water and not food. We

mistake it as food instead of water. The simple logic behind it is

the world is filled with three fourths of water and one-fourth of

land; the body inside is filled with three fourths of liquid and one

fourth of solid matter. The same way our body requires more of water

than of food. On an average we adults eat 2 kgs of solid matter and

we have to drink roughly 6 litres of water. We eat a lot, but we

drink hardly one

litre of water.

 

Ravi says `I eat sea food'. His friends ask, `I never see you eating

fish.' Ravi smiles and says `you didn't understand me properly.'

Whenever I see food, I eat it' Like Ravi we eat a lot, but we drink

hardly one litre of water. If we look at our digestive system we

understand that the food we send in through our mouth is digested in

the stomach with the help of gastric juices there and the juices

sent from liver and pancreas. The remaining is digested in the small

intestines and the waste is thrown into the dustbin – the large

intestine. In other words if we eat once, through one part, five

parts of the body are involved in digesting that food, for nearly 3

hours. Isn't it unfair on our part to trouble five parts the whole

day? Can't we shut our mouth? Is it so difficult? Of course we

should not behave like the lady in `Luncheon' written by Somerset

Maugham.

 

The narrator is a writer. A lady, his fan, forces herself upon him

for a luncheon in a costly hotel, beyond his means. She assures him

initially `I don't eat anything for luncheon.' Then she assures him,

`I don't eat more than one thing for luncheon.' She orders for

salmon, but eats cavarie as salmon is being cooked, she drinks

champagne as her doctor asked her not to drink anything else, she

gulps large mouthfuls of giant asparagus because she should not

leave Paris without eating them, she takes coffee and ice-cream as

dessert and finally tastes a pie as they are fresh and as she had

just a snack. The worst part of it is she advises the author to

follow her example and eat just one item for lunch ! When the poor

man ate just a cheap mutton chop!

 

Let's not follow her example but let's regulate our diet. Let's not

think I am not practicing yoga! "Need not necessarily! To attain

anything in life, we should have regular habits. We should get up

early in the morning. We should drink atleast one litre of water on

an empty stomach, we should do some yoga or meditation, we should

eat sprouts or drink vegetable soup for breakfast, we should eat

boiled rice or phulkas with spiceless curries and curds. We should

eat fruits in the evening and should have an early dinner with

phulkas and spiceless curries or limited food. Should go to bed

early and regularity should be maintained! Remember this -

 

Too much of anything is too bad

 

Too much of eating or too much of sleeping!

M Rajya Sri

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