Apr
21
Written by:
Jayanthi
Monday, April 21, 2008
Such men, says the Bhagavath-Gita, will need a dietary regime that will keep
the inner engines of their "rajasic" personality running full steam
on all cylinders. The general diet of such men will tend to consist of Food
that is bitter, sour, very salty, exceedingly spicy and pungent, dry and
burning (Chapter XVII.9).
Judging by the standards of the Bhagavath-Gita, much of what the modern world
of today eats is essentially of the "rajasic" grade. It is meaty,
greasy, spicy, rich, palate-tingling, tangy, aromatic, irresistibly tasty... In
a word, it is all that the popular _expression "yummy, yummy!" might
suggest to us! "Rajasic" cuisine is essentially meant to titillate
and satiate deep-seated instincts of the gourmet and it is the reason why it is
so very tempting. It is very easy in fact to over-eat and over-indulge in the
full range of "rajasic" foods available in the world today --
hamburgers, sausages, steak, pizzas, pasta, enchiladas, biriyAni, exotic
chocolates, caramel, creamy pastries and so on and so forth...
If we understood well the nature of "rajasic" foods we would not fail
to also understand why millions of children and teenagers in the world quickly
fall in love with and become slaves to all kinds of "junk food"
peddled by any number and all manner of "fast-food" chains and restaurants.
If over-eating and obesity are fast assuming alarming proportions as
health-hazards throughout the world, it is mainly because of the enormous
content of "rajas" in the Food the people eat.
The amount of "rajasic" food that is over-eaten and over-indulged in
the world is exceeded only by the huge amounts of it that is also criminally
wasted. If one were to take a census of all the "fast-food" chains in
the world and of all the hotels, restaurants and eating-joints, and actual stock
then taken of the heaps of "left-overs", "throw-aways" and
discarded foodstuff which all ultimately find their way into millions of
trash-cans and garbage-dumps in the world... if one could visualize all that,
it would not be difficult at all to imagine the colossal amounts of food being
wasted away daily in our own lifetime. If one were to impute an economic value
to all the food so discarded in the world today, it would be quite enough
indeed to set up yet another UN Food and Agriculture Organization, another FAO!
It was keeping in mind the mammoth potential for Food wastage on a
global-scale, especially of the "rajasic" variety, that the Upanishad
warned -- "annam na pari-chaksheeta!"
If you liked this post, consider subscribing to complementary Alaivani RSS feed and my Yahoo group (files, photos, newsletters and more not on the site).
Copyright ©2008 Jennifer Jayanthi Kumar
Tags: