O Desire!

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Mon, 6 Mar 2000, Ravisankar Mayavaram wrote:

[...]

>
> I read in a book that while eating is not right to talk and the author
> suggests that one should mentally chant gOvinda (or the name of your
> ishhTa devata). Especially while chewing one has a good excuse not to
> talk.

When there were gatherings of Brahmans the custom was (and still is) that
they would take it in turns to recite some shlokas while the others ate in
silence.

> Other important thing is to pray before eating. This will remind many
> things. Some of the common prayers I have encountered is
> "brahmaarpaNam ..",
> "ahaM vaishvaanaro ..." and so on. In a public gathering one can do it
> mentally. We use few prayers at home. The one (from Swami Yogananda) is
>
> "Divine Mother, receive this food, make it holy, and let no impurity of
> greed defile it. Food comes from thee. It is to build thy temple.
> Spiritualize it. Spirit to spirit goes.
>
> O Divine Mother, we are the petals of thy manifestation, thou art the
> flower, its life and loveliness. Permeate in our souls the fragrance of
> thy presence"
>
> Other than is we also use, "brahmaarpanam ..", "annam brahma rasor
> vishhnuH bhokta devo maheshhvaraH", and "anna puurNe .."
>
> If one is initiated to sandhya, there is a standard stuff one has to do.
>

This is called pranagnihotra.  Agni in the form of Vaishwanara is the
digestive process so eating is considered equivalent to Agnihotra.

> --
> Most office lunches, if inhouse, can be avoided by packing one's own lunch
> (I do it). No one minds it. If one has to go out, one can eat very less.
> My main problem was greed of overeating. But I have got it under control
> with
> practice. Still my nemesis is, curd rice and potato curry (or pickles).
> Soon I will conquer it too :-))
>
> --
> If you are in US, it is better to avoid processed foods. But not always
> you have the choice though. More than 50% of the cheese in this country is
> made from animal rennet (enzyme). I heard they even add fish products to
> enrich milk with vitamin A & D. Whatever has gelatin, in NOT vegetarian.
> But one need not be a food fanatic. If one has no choice, better to eat
> saying krishnaarpanam. Personally, I found that the best thing is to eat
> what is required to keep one healthy without greed. I still feel pure
> after eating when I practice this (also you can lose weight).
>

Something I've found handy when needing to eat in a strange place is to to
a restaurant that follows the Jewish rules on diet (Kosher.)  One of the
laws of the Jewish religion is that meat cannot be mixed with milk
products.  So if a restaurant advertises itself as Kosher dairy (They will
have a certificate from a Rabbi on the premises attesting to this) you can
be sure that no meat products are in use.


--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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