Chocolate = evil??

[Visitor]

Haribol,

 

was just wandering, whats your stand on chocolate??

 

I used to be a heavy chocoholic but then realised that they were the cause of sexual actuvity within my mind and so have more or less completly stopped and felt a considerable difference.

 

What you think? Is there are scripture verses to back this up?

 

 

[Gauracandra]

I've been told by devotees before not to eat chocolate or bread (made by nondevotees - it contains karma). But no devotee has told me to stop drinking commercial milk.... We've had this discussion on this forum before, and I don't want to rehash the arguments. But there does seem to be a lack of proportion when people go after chocolate (which harms no one) and let slide commercial milk (which certainly does cause harm). I'm a milk drinker and can acknowledge this (the harm caused by the milk industry).

 

The view against chocolate is that it is a stimulant. As such it agitates the mind. However, how much chocolate might be a point to consider. Sugar can also be a stimulant that agitates the mind (and yet we eat halava, sweet rice, burfi etc...) Ever see a kid hopped up on too much sugar? It aint a pretty sight. Another example I remember on these forums was Indian pickles. They are hot and spicy. Thus they must be in the mode of passion. But are they? Sure if you eat tons of indian pickle that probably is in the mode of passion. But if you eat a little indian pickle, with rice and subji, how is it particularly different from just mild spicing.

 

So eating a lot of chocolate is most likely bad because it will disturb your mind. But a small bit might be acceptable. Overall we are told to avoid it, so that is probably the best advice. But I wouldn't damn yourself to hell if you eat it here and there.

[Guest guest]

i offer to krsna and eat some chocolate and i know that it is not the best standard for a(n aspiring) devotee...

 

but my behaviour and mentality does not change with the assumption of chocolate and i am sincerely amazed hearing that someone is disturbed by such little thing.. even sexually!!

 

if you see a girl in the street wearing miniskirt what happens to you?.. a heart attack?

[Guest guest]

It heats the blood when taken in XS, and causes some fire in Muladhara chakra, which can xcite sexual desire, I find if you take anything like this the best thing is to have some cooling foods after it.

 

What you are experiencing is a reality as this chakra is related to passion presided over by Siva-shakti.

[Pankaja_Dasa]

 

Prabhu I had some prasadam chocolate [made out of something, i forget the name now]. I can safely say it DID agitate my mind quite a bit. When I have sugar in normal food I am ok.

[Guest guest]

Gauracandra, you have taekn my topic completly out of proportion.

 

It not about who it harms etc. Im talking about agitation of the mind.

 

I believe its got something to do with cocoa. Many of you mentioned the sugar content but as you all said having sugar with other indian sweets doesnt seem to make a difference.

 

Miniskirt? If iv eaten chocolate then yes my mind would be aroused, but if i had been on chocolate diet then i would find that my mind is very easy to control. This is the extent i have found that chocolarte plays on the mind!

 

I like the chakra information, please tell me more. Is there any ingredient that is opposite to chocolate? What types of food is good when dealing with chakra (not talking about the karmic quality).

 

Thanks

[Guest guest]

All satvik foods are good for your chakras, foods in the mode of goodness promote satvic qualities and those can come about thru healthy habits, the clearer and cleaner fresher foods are, the more the blood is purified and a pure flow of blood to the brain will make for a more lucid and clearer thinking mind, if this is coupled with yoga and meditation the chakras will radiate like shining jewells and then they have capacity to effect all the bodies functions.

Choclate seems to specificly effect circulation to the brain of many people sometimes causing extreme headaches, dizziness etc. If overdone, and it becomes an addiction it can lead to migrain.

Fresh fruit juices, salads, greens, herbs and citrus will help balance the effects, and if you are Indian, some simple fresh indian sweets in moderation will substitute the craving for sweets.

There is no substitute for those things Krsna likes freshly prepared, growing directly organicly from the garden if possible and offered nicely as prasadam, will promote further to the suddha satvic platform. The best of all worlds.

All the best

at your service

MKd

[Visitor]

So whats ISKCON's view on chocolate?

 

Please dont reply that its ok in moderation. If this was the case then why is caffine banned? is that not a stimulant and only intoxicating in excess. Why not chocolate is the question?

 

Thanks

[stonehearted]

There's an old thread on chocolate where all these things are covered threadbare. If you find that chocolate disturbs you, it's best that you not eat it, I suppose. If you're trying to whip up some controversy, I think most participants who have been around here a while are tired of this one.

 

The chemical in chocolate is not exactly caffeine, and its effects are different. Chocolate in small amounts can benefit some people's health. If ISKCON actually has a policy regarding chocolate, it's probably founded on shaky ground. I know of at least one devotee who prepared chocolate sandesh for Srila Prabhupada at his request. One quotation that I've heard used--"No more chocolate: finished" (sounds to some like "chocotlate:) is actually a misquote. He said, No more chop cutlet: finished!"

 

I don't know if I have time to find the old thread for you. If you have plenty of time for hanging around the Web, you migh try searching the Health forum here (or whatever it's called--the one just below "Spiritual Discussions").

[stonehearted]

Look here: Old chocloate thread

 

When I was looking for facts to post to that thread, I also came across schematics (or whatever they're called) of the two molecules, and they're a little different, as are their effects on most people.

 

If someone knows where Srila Prabhupada or any of our acharyas definitively forbade consuming chocolate, independently of a comment by a disciple that it's an intoxicant, let's see it.

[Airicky]

yes, chocolate is evil. It is made by evil little gnomes in deep dark caves near the center of the earth. The headmaster of the gnomes is named Cocoa and he is a very dark sinister character that is rarely seen in daylight.

 

All shop keepers are his hypnotized slaves who push the chocolate bars on innocent children who grow up to be addicted adults.

 

Cocoa also invented halloween and the little mini chocolate bars that children fight over and hoard under their beds to hide from their siblings and their parents.

 

This evil must be stopped.

[Visitor]

That old thread was all well and good as biological basis, but i would like to hear some spiritual implications of chocolate please.

 

I for one have experimented with indulging in chocolate and then going on a chocolate diet and how this effects the mind. I just want to know if anyone else (...whos mature and does not live a disturbed life about gnomes etc) has tried this.

 

I honestly believe that the mind is a hell-of-alot easier to control e.g. abstain from sexual desires, once desireful foods are controlled.

[gHari]

Los Angeles

14 June, 1972

 

My dear Surasrestha,

 

Please accept my blessings. I am in due receipt of your letter dated May 25, 1972, and I have noted the contents. The article you have sent which was published in the newsletter there is very nice. The interviewer asked intelligent questions and you have given very nice answers also. It is apparent that you have understood our philosophy nicely so you continue to read our books regularly and preach vigorously, and help to distribute this great transcendental knowledge to all the distressed souls of this Kali yuga.

 

In answer to your questions, the red incarnation who appeared in the Treta-yuga is Yajnapati. Lord Mohammed is accepted by us as Saktyavesa Avatar, but we do not recognize the Bahai faith. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu appears once in the day of Brahma or whenever He is required to come. So far attending pujas at the houses of the Hindus there we can go and hold our kirtana but we should not take prasadam there. We can accept raw materials and take them to our temple but we should not accept any prasadam prepared by them. However, if they insist then we can take fruits and milk and offer them to Krishna. Cocoa and chocolate are not to be taken as they are intoxicants.

 

I am leaving for London on July the 4th and am returning to New Vrndavana for Janmastami celebration and at that time we can make further plans on my coming to Trinadad. In the meantime, continue to distribute this great message of Krsna Consciousness to all the people there and work hard to make the whole country into devotees. Hoping this will meet you in good health.

 

Your ever well wisher,

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

[Mataji108]

I never realized how naturally sweet carob is until I tried Sunspire Unsweetened Carob Chips. A great chocolate replacement.

[Guest guest]

FYI,

 

All ISKCON centres use carob as a chocolate replacement. So dont be too astonished to see some chocolate preparation being offered.

 

As far as cocoa chocolates go I surely feel that it does make a difference in sadhana by abstaning. Trust this chocolate/ coffee addict. Now i dont even get the cravings leave alone eating em.

 

And how did i manage to let go, simple, chant more and more.

 

"If you cannot desire for Radha Krishna, then desire to desire" - HDG A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

 

Hare Krishna

Radhey Radhey

[Guest guest]

 

The chemical in chocolate is not exactly caffeine, and its effects are different. Chocolate in small amounts can benefit some people's health.

 

 

The chemical in chocolate is not caffeine, and it has a different molecular structure. However, it is still a stimulant, which is why orthodox Vaishnavas do not take it (that I have seen anyway).

 

I'm not aware of any studies which say that "chocolate in small amounts can benefit some people's health." I would be interested to get the references to this statement, assuming there are any scientific references in medical journals. It is well known that chocolate can exacerbate symptoms in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease. Some people who eat a lot of chocolate can actually give themselves gastroesophageal reflux.

 

 

 

[krsna]

From Tripurari Swami:

 

A. I found one letter in which Srila Prabhupada wrote that devotees should not eat chocolate because it was an intoxicant. However, in a letter written later by his secretary, who had asked him as to whether chocolate could be offered to the Deity, the response was "Yes, if it was not intoxicating." Thus the perennial debate among Srila Prabhupada's disciples about eating chocolate. Once in San Francisco, Srila Prabhupada noticed that one of his householder disciples was eating a chocolate bar, which she then tried to hide. Prabhupada asked, "You are not offering me any?" She smiled and offered it to him and he ate some. Afterwards word spread that devotees could eat chocolate, but later when the devotees became abusive, eating it in excess, Srila Prabhupada told them not to eat it. The main concern about chocolate is its intoxicating properties, but to be affected by that one would have to eat quite a lot. Other items such as sugar, ghee, certain spices, and honey are also potentially intoxicating and addictive substances. Among these honey has the added complication of being made by bees who use their long tube like tongues to suck the nectar out of flowers that they store in their special "honey stomachs." Gathering bees return to the hive and pass the nectar to worker bees that then chew the nectar until it becomes honey. But in spite of the fact that it passes through the mouths and stomachs of bees and has intoxicating qualities, honey is regularly offered to Krsna in Vaisnava temples. Indeed, the Bhagavatam says that Balarama drinks 'Varuni', an intoxicating beverage sometimes said to be made from honey.

 

Scripture tells us that Balarama and Krsna do take intoxicants, like pan, honey, and other such items. Most Gaudiya Vaisnavas do not use pan, but pan is offered to Krsna in many Vaisnava temples. As for eating chocolate, do not eat it in excess and it will not hurt your bhakti, but if you are addicted to it, that is a problem. In general I believe it is best to avoid it altogether other than perhaps in the form of hot chocolate made with milk and whipped cream, which is delicious. While speaking of mixed devotion, Bhagavad-gita says that whatever you eat should be offered to Krsna. One has to start somewhere. Start with the spirit of offering and everything else will follow in due course.

 

[Visitor]

|| Ram ||

 

Thank you Krsna for your reply.

 

Iv (almost) stopped eating chocolate altogether for the moment. I have my seasons where sometimes I live off chocolate and sometimes dont eat any whatsoever.

 

However i would like to share with you that now that im not eating chocolate, when consuming even a little indricetly in biscuits etc, it sparks of desires. Even thou these desires are controllable and not as strong as before, I feel that its more than coincidence that it is effected by chocolate.

 

If anyone wants to control their mind, I would strongly suggest they 'renounce' chocolate or any other food type that they crave. It truly helps to focus the mind!

 

Haribol

[Guest guest]

 

In general I believe it is best to avoid it altogether other than perhaps in the form of hot chocolate made with milk and whipped cream, which is delicious.

 

 

Why is chocolate in the form of hot chocolate with milk and whipped cream ok, but just not other forms of chocolate? Because the swami happens to like it that way?

 

This is the standard of renunciation I have seen practiced in the Vivekananda Vedanta Society. "I like it, so it's ok for you too." Needless to say, I wasn't impressed with that standard.

[mahoney]

Why do people like you stay on in the US. Overly fussy and orthodox people are better off staying in India. I have noticed that this almost always people who are utter weirdos land up in the US. With weirdos like you I am saying right here!!!!