The Yogic Diet: Vegetarian Philosophy (with video)
Written by Dharmpuri
(member of Yoga in Daily Life)
Proper diet is fundamental for sustaining good health and mental development. What we eat has far reaching effects well beyond our own bodies. The Science of Yoga has given us the understanding of the effects of food on our bodies, our mind, and our environment. It has shown us how food not only affects our health but how we feel and think. Great Yogis through out the ages have taught us the benefits of the yogic diet. This article explains some of the reasons Yogis are vegetarian.
“We are not living for eating we are eating for living”
Below an excerpt from the book “Yoga in Daily Life – the System”
by Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda
Different types of food
Joga categories three types of foods according to their qualities. These qualities correspond to the three Gunas – Sattvic, Rajasic and Tamasic. Sattvic food is found in a lacto-vegetarian , whole food diet which includes grains, vegetables, pulses, fruit, nuts, seeds, milk and milk products. Vegetarian food detoxifies, cleans and purifies the body and increases our resistance to illness.
All beings are God’s children
Apart from the health aspect, the main reason lies in the fact that all living beings are God’s children – this includes animals. God is the creator of us all. God’s light dwells in animals as well as in humans.
Vishwa Prani Meri Atma Hai
All living beings are my Self
All beings want to be happy
All beings want to be happy and avoid suffering. Animals experience fear and pain just as humans experience fear and pain. Animals also fear death, just as humans fear death. Yoga rejects the killing and eating of animals, for there is the inherent awareness that all livings beings are united in the one consciousness.
There is a proverb that says, “You are what you eat”. Two factors, society and nutrition, principally determine the type of qualities that a human develops. An improper diet not only causes us physical illness, but also confuses the mind. It destroys the Pranic energy and produces aggression, depression and fear. We cling to life with every fiber of our being and consider freedom and happiness the ultimate goal of existence. Every animal and every living being also wants to be free and happy.
Prana in Food
All creatures, such as birds, dogs, cats, horses and cows, intuitively feel the impending danger of a natural disaster. In the same way, animals are instinctively aware of their own death in advance. In the days before cattle are brought to the slaughterhouse, they are fearful and restless.
The fear of death floods their entire body and their endocrine glands secrete vast quantities of “fight and flight” hormones. These hormones lodge in the tissues of the animal. We cannot see these subtle substances stored in the flesh of a dead body, but inevitably we ingest the animal’s fear of death whenever we consume its flesh.
In addition to this, we also take in the animal’s Prana – that is, the animal’s qualities and the nature of its consciousness. This greatly impedes our spiritual development. The aggression and fear of the animal’s consciousness deeply penetrates our subconscious mind and rises again into consciousness at the hour of our own death. Also, in meditation and in prayer this fear arises whenever we try to withdraw deeply into ourselves. It is due to this unaccountable fear that many people have an aversion or fear of meditation and religion.
However, at some time we must go through this unconscious fear. Either we purify ourselves consciously through meditation, prayer and good deeds, or we go through the fear again at the hour of death. But at that time we can do nothing about it. Our destiny is fulfilled according to the law of Karma. This can be compared to the predicament a mountain climber faces when his rope breaks. At this moment his own will has no power, no influence on the consequence. He falls whether he wants to or not.
Our Qualities Make Us Human
In contrast to animals, we humans have free will to choose our path through Buddhi (intellect) and Viveka (discrimination). This is why we should give proper attention to correct eating, and keep good company. These influence our mood and the nature of our inner qualities far more than we are able to imagine. How we think and act are in direct relation to the quality of the food we eat and the company we keep. This also impacts our Karma.
We love and spoil our domestic pets such as cats, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters etc. But at the same time we eat roast chicken, fillets of fish, beef and pork cutlets. Many people don’t even consider the fact that these living beings are tortured and sacrificed simply to satisfy the pleasure of their palate. A God-Realized person says, “When you are not able to give life, you also have no right to take it away”.
Meat is dead food. Eating something dead also produces death within. Vegetarian food however, provides us with vitality, health and spiritual development. That is why from the viewpoint of health, as well as spiritually and ethically, consuming meat is the worst possible way of eating. Anyone can understand this just by taking the time to think a little more deeply and relate to the feelings of other living beings.
As humans our Dharma is to help, to protect and to support, not to exploit and destroy. The highest principle for a human is summarized in just one sentence:
AHIMSA PARAMO DHARMA
Non-violence is the Supreme duty.
There is no greater sin than to kill or injure. If we have no sympathy for the pain that an animal suffers when it is slaughtered, or close our eyes to its suffering, then it is no wonder that we as humans must suffer terrible wars, environmental destruction, many diseases and natural disasters.
- Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda
Last but not least: the video “Devour the Earth”
Please look to this excellent video. Although it was made in 1995, the facts even increase the importance of a worldwide switching back to a plant-based diet!
(This text is provided by tiskarna)
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