Guest guest Posted November 5, 2008 Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 Dear swamiji of the group, Bagavan has said Mitha Agaram ( half stomach). Also HE has said that over night left food gives Rajo Gunam (qualities of Passion). Nowadays all of us are eating food untimely. Is taking food after dusk, forbidden? Eating grain (Rice) on Ekadasi day causes sickness as on Ekadasi day the Saturn power (Sani Bagavan) seats in rice according to Ekadasi Mahathiyam. Is that true? Also I would like to know the food forbidden for Sadhaks. Please be kind enough to enlighten more deeply on this subject. B.Sathyanarayan --- On Wed, 5/11/08, sadhak_insight <sadhak_insight wrote: sadhak_insight <sadhak_insight [sadhaka] About Food and Prayer sadhaka Wednesday, 5 November, 2008, 10:15 AM : Shree Hari : Ram Ram 5th November, 2008, Wednesday Kaartik Shukla Saptami, Vikram Samvat 2065, Budhvar In the Upanishads, it is mentioned " As is the food, so is the mind " . So a man should eat pure food, because it purifies his mind. The place, seat, scene and atmosphere where he eats the food should also be pure and holy, as these also affect the mind. Moreover, feelings and thoughts of the person cooking the food should also be pure and divine. Before having a meal, a person should wash both his hands, and feet and mouth. Sitting on a clean and pure seat, facing the East or North, offering food first to the Lord, by reciting verses - " Whosoever offers to Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water that offering of love, of the pure of heart I accept " Gita 9:26. After this he should take a little water in his palm and recite the following verse " The act of offering is God, the oblation is God. It is offered by God, into the Fire of God. God is verily to be attained by him who always sees God in action " (Gita 4:24). Then he should drink the water. While putting his first morsel into his mouth, he should recite the sacred mantra (hymn) of sixteen words " Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krisna, Kirshna Krisna hare Hare " or chant his favorite mantra (two times). Thus he chews a morsel 32 times, as there are sixteen words in the sacred mantra. This food then becomes digestible, nourishing and purified at the same time one remains absorbed in adoration of the Lord by reciting His name. If while having your meal, the mind is dwelling on evil propensities such as hatred, envy, jealousy, fear and greed, the food will not be digested well, and person will suffer indigestion. Therefore while eating food, one should be free from all evil propensities, and should remain calm. From " The Bhagavad Gita - Sadhak Sanjivani " book in Hindi pg 1786 by Swami Ramsukhdasji Ram Ram Radhe Radhe For full online discourses in Hindi, please visit Swami Ramsukhdasji' s website. http://www.swamiramsukhdasji.org -------------------------------- GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Dear swamiji of the group, Bagavan has said Mitha Agaram ( half stomach). Also HE has said that over night left food gives Rajo Gunam (qualities of Passion). Nowadays all of us are eating food untimely. Is taking food after dusk, forbidden? Eating grain (Rice) on Ekadasi day causes sickness as on Ekadasi day the Saturn power (Sani Bagavan) seats in rice according to Ekadasi Mahathiyam. Is that true? Also I would like to know the food forbidden for Sadhaks. Please be kind enough to enlighten more deeply on this subject. B.Sathyanarayan ------------------------------ Shree Hari Ram Ram Swamiji has explained in the Sadhak Sanjivani regarding food and food habits. He has said - Those human beings who predominantly believe in the theory - " eat, drink and be merry " , do not realize what they should do and what they should refrain from. In them the divinity remains concealed. Bhagwaan has called such persons as " Janaah " , as divine nature can reveal itself in them. This is explained in Gita 16:7 - " The demoniac do not know what to do and what to refrain from. Neither purity, nor good conduct, nor truth is found in them. " Swamiji says that that in the present day self-willed and unrestained environment, and due to the influence of modern education and food etc, people do not know what to do and what to refrain from. Gita addresses about food preferences of persons with qualities of purity (sattvic), passion (rajasic) and ignorance (tamasic). In Sadhak Sanjivani - English pg 1783 and Hindi pg 1048 Swamiji explains the Gita 17:10 as follows - " That which is half-cooked or half-ripe, insipid, putrid, stale, polluted and impure is the food that is dear to the Tamasa. " (Gita 17:10). " Yaatayaamam gatarasam pooti paryusitam ca yat ucchistamapi caamedhyam bhojanam taamasapriyam. " (Gita 17:10) Yaatayamam - refers to half-cooked, or half-ripe, or overcooked, or overripe foods and off-season fruit and vegetables kept usable through refrigeration. Gatarasam refers to fruits etc which lose their juice due to exposure, or fruits etc whose essence has been taken out through some processing or equipment. Pooti - refers to putrid foods that smell offensive such as onions and garlic, and wines which are rendered foul through a fermentation process. Paryusitam - refers to cooked foods which are kept over-night and includes things like chapati (indian bread) dough prepared and kept overnight for later preparation. It does not include sweets prepared from milk, butter, ghee and sugar as these do not get stale or spoiled if allowed to stay overnight. Ucchistam - refers to foods left over on a plate after a meal or food which is either seen or smelt or partly eaten or touched by some animal are made impure or considered previously used and unfit for another's use. Amedhyam - refers to meat, fish and eggs etc are very impure items. Lord does not even wish to call out the names of these impure foods, as they are considered as good as corpses that even on touching one needs to take a bath / shower. Api ca is the expression used to convey that besides the above mentioned foods, all other foods forbidden by the scriptures according to one's stage in life or social order, such as certain lentils (masoor), turnips and carrots that are prohibited are also included in tamasika food. Bhojanam taamaspriyam - Such food are dear to an ignorant (taamasika) person. Thus a man's aim, direction and faith become known by the food which is dear to him. Even if pure (sattvik) food is eaten having attachment for it, it becomes rajasika (from mode of passion). If eaten in excess, it becomes tamasik (inertia filled, leading to darkness). Often the inner intent (bhava) determine the outcome, as even stale / dry food when offered to God, eaten in moderation by chanting God's name becomes pure (sattvik). Please refer to Sadhak Sanjivani for more details. Meera Das Ram Ram ------------------------------ Friends, Food is what created for all creatures..Think universally; and tolrate other peoples' choices; and remember..all of us have a right to not eat what we don't want to eat, but have no right to enforce this ,on others..by religious persuation or spiritual knowledge vishnudada (Vishnu Patel) ------------------------------- We should avoid alcohol, non-veg., stale food and have plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits. We should also drink plenty of water. Beyond that to each according to his own but one must not be a food faddist. Hari Shanker Deo ------------------------------- --- On Wed, 5/11/08, sadhak_insight <sadhak_insight wrote: sadhak_insight <sadhak_insight [sadhaka] About Food and Prayer sadhaka Wednesday, 5 November, 2008, 10:15 AM : Shree Hari : Ram Ram 5th November, 2008, Wednesday Kaartik Shukla Saptami, Vikram Samvat 2065, Budhvar In the Upanishads, it is mentioned " As is the food, so is the mind " . So a man should eat pure food, because it purifies his mind. The place, seat, scene and atmosphere where he eats the food should also be pure and holy, as these also affect the mind. Moreover, feelings and thoughts of the person cooking the food should also be pure and divine. Before having a meal, a person should wash both his hands, and feet and mouth. Sitting on a clean and pure seat, facing the East or North, offering food first to the Lord, by reciting verses - " Whosoever offers to Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water that offering of love, of the pure of heart I accept " Gita 9:26. After this he should take a little water in his palm and recite the following verse " The act of offering is God, the oblation is God. It is offered by God, into the Fire of God. God is verily to be attained by him who always sees God in action " (Gita 4:24). Then he should drink the water. While putting his first morsel into his mouth, he should recite the sacred mantra (hymn) of sixteen words " Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna, Hare Krisna, Kirshna Krisna hare Hare " or chant his favorite mantra (two times). Thus he chews a morsel 32 times, as there are sixteen words in the sacred mantra. This food then becomes digestible, nourishing and purified at the same time one remains absorbed in adoration of the Lord by reciting His name. If while having your meal, the mind is dwelling on evil propensities such as hatred, envy, jealousy, fear and greed, the food will not be digested well, and person will suffer indigestion. Therefore while eating food, one should be free from all evil propensities, and should remain calm. From " The Bhagavad Gita - Sadhak Sanjivani " book in Hindi pg 1786 by Swami Ramsukhdasji Ram Ram Radhe Radhe For full online discourses in Hindi, please visit Swami Ramsukhdasji' s website. http://www.swamiramsukhdasji.org -------------------------------- GITA TALK GROUP GUIDELINES: 1. Purpose of the group is to help Sadhakas clarify their doubts related to Gitaji shalokas. Therefore, responses which further clarify the understanding of Gitaji, will only be posted. 2. Wherever possible, please quote Gitaji or other scriptures to substantiate your response. 3. Kindly limit personal feelings, opinions, beliefs etc. to the extent that they further help in understanding the Gita shlokas 4. Please be as concise and to the point as possible, respecting sadhaka's time. 5. Kindly focus your writing to the subject at hand only. 6. Please do not include links to the other sites or other organizations. 7. Kindly do not include your personal information such as phone number, address etc. 8. Please do not address the response to a particular individual since the message is going to the entire group. 9. Due to the large readership, all responses may not be posted. 10. Moderator at his discretion, may modify the posting, if content is unclear or not appropriate for distribution to the group. 11. Please respond taking into consideration the novices, youth, westerners, non-sectarian audience. Kindly limit the use to Sanskrit words only, rather provide the English word with Sanskrit bracketed wherever possible. MODERATOR Ram Ram ------------------------ Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.