Essence of Meditation: Food For Thought

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Essence of Meditation: Food For Thought

The teaching which is written on paper is not the true teaching. Written teaching is a kind of food for your brain. Of course, it is necessary to take some kind of food for your brain, but it is more important to be yourself by practicing the right kind of life.

Shunryu Suzuki

In the 'modern' era, eating has become a sensual activity. We eat more for pleasure than to keep our body temples healthy. Living to eat rather than eating to live has become the norm. Judicious use of colours, fragrances, and aromatic ingredients in food has only encouraged restless minds to move even further away from the truth inherent in creation.

Food has primarily come to be identified with dross delicacies. We have overlooked the fact that apart from the role it has to play in evolutionary development, food was created as one more medium to supply our bodies with prana (life energy); others being the sun, water, air, and of course the cosmic energy omnipresent in creation. For too long have we seen food as an aid to satiate your physical hunger. But how often is our hunger really physical? Greed and desires of the taste buds have let the mind run riot. Food as we understand it is only matter. The food that enters our bodies is broken down into subtle forms of energy by the prana (life force), which then are further channeled through the various nerves and the blood stream.

The scriptures inform us that food makes mind, just as water makes prana. If we ingrain into our minds and understanding that everything in this world is primarily one form or another of energy, we will comprehend that food (which too is energy) can either be harmonious / sattvic (wisdom and intelligence inducing) / alkaline, neutral / rajasic (activity nurturing), or then purely inharmonious / acidic / tamasic (inertia and ignorance inducing) in its energy pattern.

Since our minds are made of the energy patterns that we imbue every moment of living, the nature of the food we consume will very strongly contribute to the kind of mentality and temperament we develop. Apropos, sweet foods will tend to make us timid, spicy foods will engender anger, red coloured food will encourage hyperactivity, and refined sugar will nurture emotional instability.

Overripe and pre-cooked foods will render a state of sleepiness and hinder concentration. Increased consumption of food in its natural forms and without unnecessary overcooking and additives will help keep propitiate the peace and poise that is an inherent nature of our beings. Since what is consumed by the human body correlates directly to the efficiency with which the human body functions, a regular meditator must take note of these factors, for even on a daily basis, diet tends to affect the quality of meditation.

Ever so oft, people who meditate regularly find that the benefits are not proportionate to the effort put in. Right consumption will help calm the sense stimuli and derive more benefits from meditation. But food also entails our mental and emotional consumption. The thoughts we think, the emotional environment that we build within and the overall environment created by those around us, all add to the "food" that makes up our minds.

As a general pointer it is vital to understand that food prepared in harmonious surroundings, and with love, compassion, and an attitude of service, is far more beneficial that that prepared otherwise. Too much eating in restaurants and fast-food joints is hardly advisable for one earnestly seeking to make spiritual progress. Some types of food are easily digestible, while others are not. Of course, the benefits of vegetarianism are being increasingly recognised the world over. Non-vegetarian delicacies might hardly be termed delicious in the inner sense.

Innumerable chemicals are fed and injected into animals to make them more productive and when you consume well-roasted flesh, remember that along with the toxins that were latent in the animal, you are also imbibing its vibrations of pain, fear, agony... that it experienced at the time of a painful death. How many cultures across the world, except a handful like the Jews among others, adopt a system wherein death to the animal is inflicted in a methodical and less painful manner.

Overall, as a general guideline, definitely avoid beef, pork, and forms of dark meat. Stay away from too much consumption of dairy products. This will only increase mucus levels, contribute to intestinal confusion, and generally clog the energy field. Stay away from fish if you can, because levels of sea pollution are definitely on the rise. Fast foods, and soft drink beverages, seem to bring in an infusion of charged up energy initially, but will actually only drain you further.

When you have reached exalted levels in your meditative practices, you will not need to follow these simple guidelines... then, everything you think, do and feel will be God alone and an offering from Him unto Himself. Cultivate a habit to eat with awareness. Feel the touch of the food on your fingers and also appreciate the different elements of taste that have combined to make it more wholesome. As you eat, make it a practice to begin with a silent prayer. This is not to be a mechanical ritual, but something very internalized and suffused with thanksgiving. Speak silently with closed eyes in the language of your heart. Show gratitude to the Creator for pampering you with the food you consume. Make yourself worthy of His offering.

Thousands of children die every day because of a lack of food. Use your latent powers of will and visualisation to feel His light and love flow through you into the dishes in front. Realize again and again that you are a soul with consciousness and not a human being. Surround yourself with His presence... Will and affirm that the food you eat is awakening the health and success tendencies in you... spiritualising your brain and making your heart more intuitive.

Know without doubt, that the state of mind in which you eat is only contributing to the energy pattern of your brain and your overall spiritual development. If you watch TV whilst eating, or for that matter read a book, newspaper, or magazine, comprehend that the energy of the soap or the emotionalism in the fiction thriller is also being absorbed with the food and getting carried all across your bloodstream. As you think and as you eat, so will you be.

Important as diet is, try not to be rigid and harsh on yourself. Make the changes in a gradual personal way. If you impose changes on yourself and are without patience, you might just find the going quite tough. As usual try not to expect miraculous changes overnight in anything you aspire for. As you meditate more regularly, many detrimental habits and dross tastes will fall away of themselves.

The world lays too much stress on proteins, vitamins, and important as they are, remember that you can with closed eyes, focus your attention on the area of the third eye (in between the eyebrows) and will all the energy and power that you desire to suffuse and empower you. Why use mediums, when you can yourself go directly to the Source?!?

Judicious fasting is another useful tool for the progressive devotee. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word (life energy) that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." - Mathew 4:4. The marvels of the inner world stand to be revealed through the metaphysics of fasting. As you learn to depend more and more on mind power rather than food alone, the marvels hidden from ordinary vision, will begin to manifest in the wisdom of your inner being. Many physical and mental diseases are cured by a change in diet or even a short period of fasting. The physical results and spiritual experiences of fasting are wonderful.

As the body dissociates itself from the gross demands, the spirit within also becomes dissociated from the body. Fasting gives rest to the organs within and also to the life force itself, as it is no longer required to do extra work. Start by fasting gradually at first; let's say, by skipping a meal or more, and then move on to a more rigid schedule. Just as the different rooms in your house need cleaning, so too, the body parts within need regular rest and rejuvenation. Fast to overcome the power of desires, to enshrine the control of the mind over the body and also to make your energy patterns more subtle, which will then lead you far on the highway of spiritual development.

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See also: Essence of Meditation , Meditation, Meditation for Beginners, Meditation Techniques

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