CORRECT TYPE OF FOOD
Here, we have to differentiate a yoga diet and an Ayurvedic diet. Ayurveda works to improve bodily health, yoga helps you more beyond bodily limitations. For this reasons most traditional yogic disciplines are ascetic in nature including fasting and light diet, raw food and detoxification methods, as well as sensory deprivations, pranayama and meditations. All these factors not only tend to reduce physical consciousness but can aggravate Vata. Traditional Ayurveda, on the other hand emphasizes cooked food and nutritive diet to build physical strength and prevent the doshas, particularly vata, from accumulation. Hence, a correct type of food is that which balances all the three doshas and hence activate the three vital essences.
WHY NO NON-VEGETARIAN?
If you personally ask me this question the answer is “I don't want my intestine to be the burial ground of dead animals.”
Ayurveda always recommend sattvic or pure food because sattva creates, balance, eliminates harmful factors and helps reduce vitiated doshas. The basis of sattvic diet is first of all vegetarian, avoiding any products involve killing of animal, even for the sake of eating. So the meat eating violates the principles of ahimsa or non-violence.
We cannot readily breakdown animal tissues in a right components for human tissues. Instead of digesting and transforming meat in to the appropriate human tissue. ‘Its' animal energies are preserved and become substituted for our human tissues. Hence meat increases animal fire in the body bringing the tendencies of these animals to function within us. This promotes anger, lust and fear and other negative emotions. Further meat produces a heavy or tamasa type of tissue that clogs the channels that tends to make the mind dull. Not only violence and crime but also religious intolerance has been more common among meat eating groups. Even economically, the grain used to produce meat to serve one family could serve easily five families. The whole economic status of a nation can change if everybody in the country resolve to be vegetarians.
On a lighter note, economic situation may worsen in india if everyone were turn vegeterians since there is a acute shortage of vegetables and agriculture feeds as against animal food. ofcourse this is not to say that it is not good.
ReplyDeleteDear Gopi,
ReplyDeleteWhen I wrote that "the grain used to produce meat to serve one family could serve easily five families", I never meant the cost of meat but the cost of feeding the animal from it's birth till it is killed for the sake of meat. Yes, you can very well argue that even otherwise the animal have to be fed. But if you do not kill that animal for food, the account on expense to feed that poor animal goes to the account of 'life' and not for 'food'. Again the amount of special cattle feed (including hormonal) for getting more flesh from the animal is far more than an ordinary cattle being fed otherwise.
Cherettammama with Love.