Food and spirituality.

Food and spirituality.

Food like anything else in life is all about making a choice.

And just like all the choices that we make, ideally should be made by the soul, rather than the mind, at least for a spiritual seeker. ( For others – it is the reverse ).

The number one goal in the life of a spiritual seeker is to transcend the mind, and all the choices are residing at the mind level.

Mind resides in duality, and duality resides in choices – should I eat this, or should I that?

More choices mean more confusion, and more confusion means less Atma ( soul ).

But how do we choose at the soul level, until we KNOW the soul, or rather BE the soul?

So that’s where the higher mind ( intellect ) comes into action and helps us make a better choice.

So what is a better choice?

A choice that tantalizes, stimulates your senses – EXPANDS your mind, and takes you away from the soul.

And a choice that provides nourishment to your body, ( which is vital for your spiritual path ), but does not necessarily stimulate your senses, SHRINKS your mind and helps you in reaching your soul.

Foods that stimulate your senses, leave your mind dissatisfied, and a dissatisfied mind looks for more and more of the same food.

This in a subtle form is addiction.

Addiction is a man-created word.

Nature does not believe in addiction, it just believes in sustenance.

All the foods made by nature just satisfy your hunger and do not make you restless to look for more and more of the same.

No one gets addicted to carrots, but a carrot cake is another thing.

Apple is not addictive, but an apple pie is.

So, for people on the path of spirituality, natural foods ( sattvic ) become helpful in taming the wild mind.

By eating Sattvic foods, gradually one develops a quiet mind, which becomes conducive to achieving higher levels of spiritual planes.

But is this the final thing? That’s it?

Can food alone make you or break you?

Then the principle of spirituality becomes upside down.

The flow of urja ( energy ) starts from within and goes out.

So, the normal sequence should be bhav ( deep intent – the closest thing to Atma ) – Vichar ( thoughts ), and finally Kriya ( action ).

But here, we are talking about Kriya ( eating sattvic food ), helping us to go within- food helping us to reach salvation.

So, we have to realize that Sattvic food is only a tool, and the primary focus still of course should be the spiritual sadhana – meditation.

At some point, when a soul becomes the center of your life, the soul automatically will reject non-Sattvic foods.

At that point, the mind will not face two choices – Sattvic or non-Sattvic foods.

Choices are suffering.

There will be only one choice – Sattvic.

The soul will talk, the mind will listen, and there will be peace and tranquility in life.