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Three Types of People and the Food That They Eat

“The food which is agreeable to different men is also of three sorts. So, too, are the kinds of sacrifice, austerity and giving. Listen; this is how they may be distinguished.” (Bhagavad Gita 17:7) It is interesting that these three things are major indicators of the dominant guna of an individual.

Definition from A Brief Sanskrit Glossary:

Guna: Quality, attribute, or characteristic arising from nature (Prakriti) itself; a mode of energy behavior. As a rule, when “guna” is used it is in reference to the three qualities of Prakriti, the three modes of energy behavior that are the basic qualities of nature, and which determine the inherent characteristics of all created things. They are: 1) sattwa–purity, light, harmony; 2) rajas–activity, passion; and 3) tamas–dullness, inertia, and ignorance.

Sattwic food

“Men of sattwa like foods which increase their vital force, energy, strength and health. Such foods add to the pleasure of physical and mental life. They are juicy, soothing, fresh and agreeable.” (Bhagavad Gita 17:8) Sivananda: “Foods which increase life, purity, strength, health, joy and cheerfulness, which are oleaginous and savoury, substantial and agreeable, are dear to the Sattwic people.” Since we are seeking to become increasingly sattwic, we should look at each point of this verse so we can improve our diet and increase our sattwa, remembering that food becomes mind according to the Chandogya Upanishad.

1. Ayus–food that actually increases the span of life. In other words, truly healthy food that protects the body and fosters it. The problem is that everybody has their own idea about what kind of food is healthy. I recommend that you read Dr. Neal Barnard’s books on diet, starting with Food For Life. Most people are slowly killing themselves with wrong diet. If they do not shorten their life, they make sure that they are sick for years at the end of their life. Ayus also means what increases life force.
2. Sattwa–food that increases the quality of sattwa, which also implies food that promotes virtue–both in the sense of strength and in the sense of goodness. It is food that lightens and promotes health of body and mind, food that is actually spiritual in its effect. This is purely vegetarian food, free of both animal and chemical elements. It is fresh raw food which has all its natural enzymes intact and moderately cooked food, as well.
3. Bala–food that imparts strength to the body and mind.
4. Arogya–food that strengthens the immune system so the body can resist or rid itself of disease.
5. Sukha–food which is easy for the body to digest and which produces ease and comfort in the body.
6. Priti–food that truly satisfies the body nutritionally, and therefore the mind. It need not be eaten like medicine. In fact, priti is that which gives actual pleasure in the eating.
7. Rasyas–food which has abundant good flavor, that has plenty of taste.
8. Snigdhas–food which contains sufficient oil, which is smooth and pleasant to eat.
9. Sthiras–food which is substantial.
10. Hridyas–food which is “hearty” and pleasant-feeling in the stomach.

This is a valuable checklist to help us eat truly pure food.

Rajasic food

“But men of rajas prefer foods which are violently bitter, sour, salty, hot, pungent, acid and burning. These cause ill-health, and distemper of the mind and body.” (Bhagavad Gita 17:9) Sivananda: “The foods that are bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot, dry, pungent and burning, are liked by the Rajasic and are productive of pain, grief and disease.”

1. Kata–food that is extremely acrid, pungent, or sharp–that is virtually caustic to the mouth.
2. Amla–food that is very acidic, sour, or vinegary.
3. Lavana–food that is very salty or briny (containing pickle-type fluid). This is hard on the kidneys and raises the blood pressure.
4. Atyushna–food that is excessively hot. The problem here is deciding what is excessive, for the more people eat hot food the more tolerance they develop until what will be painfully, burning hot to others will be mild to their taste. I knew a man who would sit and eat jalapeño peppers whole like a snack. When I asked if they were hot, he said No. So I bit into one. Volcano!
5. Tikshna–food that is harsh, fiery, and acid–especially in the stomach.
6. Raksha–food that is astringent, and also rough and dry, the kind of things that cut the roof of your mouth or even your esophagus as it goes down.
7. Vidahinas–food that is burning and scorching.

This kind of food is productive of:

1. Duhkha–pain and misery.
2. Shoka–grief–that regret so many feel and which makes anti-acid manufacturers rich–and which contributes to ulcers.
3. Amaya–sickness in the sense of malfunction and disease produced by the harming it does to the body.

Next to its harmful effects, the more unfortunate aspect of this kind of food is its addicting nature. For example, people will eat hot food that makes them cry–and love every painful moment of it. This is because hot food contains elements that affect the brain–as does the mere experience of hot food. So rajasic food is the most difficult to give up.

Tamasic food

“And men of tamas take a perverse pleasure in foods which are stale, tasteless, rotten and impure. They like to eat the leavings of others.” (Bhagavad Gita 17:10) Sivananda: “That which is stale, tasteless, putrid, rotten and impure refuse, is the food liked by the Tamasic.” Note this:

1. Yatayamam–food that is leftover, stale, and even spoiled. A lot of people eat this kind of food just from laziness or lack of initiative–both traits of tamas. Most restaurant food is unfit for human consumption, what to say about the “deli” food from big grocery stores. No one knows how old that is. Fast food chains pack their food–especially meat–in bags of formaldehyde and other horrors. Some will cook a large amount of food and then eat it for a week or more. I have known people that would scrape off the mold and eat away. Canned food is another offense to humanity. Now that we can refrigerate and even freeze food, the eating of leftovers is not always detrimental. The willingness to eat stale food–and sometimes the inability to tell it is stale–is more psychological than physical, and we must not let misapplied thrift get us into the habit of eating this devitalized food.
2. Gatarasam–food that is tasteless, devoid of flavor. This applies to a lot of oriental food, and used to be the main trait of English cooking. And it really applies to a lot of fake “sattwic” food cooked by those that think they are spiritual or even yogis. Notice how flavorless and insubstantial it is, and what a disgusting color and texture. And on top of it all they give people a little dab, commenting: “This is really pretty rich [or heavy] and you mustn’t eat too much.” Some chance! The last time I had to eat in the home of dedicated spiritual (in other words grim and rote) people the amount served for eight people would only have sufficed for three normal human beings. Their tasteless and insufficient food reflected their philosophy and their minds. Do not buy into it.
3. Puti–food that is putrid, stinking, and fetid. How many times have you seen restaurant signs or ads boasting that they serve “aged steaks”? It is the custom of “gourmets” to “hang birds” and let them decay a bit before cooking them. (I read of one restaurant that would “hang” grouse until they bred maggots, which they would wash off before cooking. One evening a group of customers called for the chef and rhapsodized over the delicious “stuffing” that had been in the grouse. At first the chef was bewildered, and then realized that the maggots had not been removed, but had been baked in the grouse! This is a clear example of how tamasic food perverts the palate.) Meat itself is rotting flesh. And what of the moldy and “stinky” cheese so beloved to many? Think of the awful smell fish and seafood emit when being cooked, what to say of the stench in oriental markets that stock them dried? Delight in such things is distinctly abnormal. Do I need to mention such ghastly things as “hundred year old” eggs and suchlike?
4. Uchchistam–food that has been eaten on by another person. This is a favorite of many. They grab off the plates of others, plop things from their plates on others’ plates, say: “Give me a taste of that” and take a bite off whatever someone has been eating–often a body part of an animal. Eating another’s spit! In modern times when we know about germs and communicable diseases, it makes no difference to them. “Give me a sip of that…tear off a hunk of that for me…let me have a little bite of yours….” This is the way they feed.

Drink

This all applies to drink, as well, the rajasic and tamasic loving fermented, alcoholic liquids, and being addicted to every form of poisonous “soft drink.”

A missing element

At the time of Krishna refined sugar in any form was unknown, so it is not on the list. It may be disguised as rajasic in elaborate and ingenious forms of sweet things, but its destructive nature makes it tamasic, though there is a good case for arguing that it should not even be listed as food.

Even more

These principles can be applied to every aspect of our life, not just to food. Society, religion, personalities, modes of life–just about everything can be classified with the traits of the food Krishna has described. Apparently we really ARE what we eat, even metaphysically speaking.

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There are many levels in the astral world, and they are all much more stable than the earth plane. Spending time in the astral plane is exactly like living within the earth plane, though in some of the higher worlds thought is more evidently a force. We are born into those worlds and work out karma in them just as we do here. Of course, there is much more learning done there and some people spend centuries in the astral equivalent of study. The lower astral worlds are so much like the earth that the people even live in buildings and there are changes in weather. In the higher worlds this is not so, and things remain more unvarying. Also, communication becomes increasingly non-verbal as we ascend to higher levels.

Many of the same things that are done on earth are also done in the astral worlds–negative as well as positive. You may remember that Yogananda in his autobiography speaks of wars going on in the astral planes with mantric power being used instead of bombs. The astral world may seem advantageous to our earthbound minds, but in reality it is a terrible place, being both more intense and more binding than the earth plane.

It is very difficult for people to extricate themselves from astral involvement. This is why many people while incarnated on the earth are addicted to so-called astral travel. I knew one of Yogananda’s personal secretaries whom he continually warned against this, but every night she would be “out and about.” Many times she was almost destroyed by evil forces, and only the Master’s intervention saved her.

Spiritual life can completely come to a standstill if our attention becomes overly focused on psychic and astral phenomena. One very psychic friend of mine told me that the first words she spoke to her guru were: “Can you get me off the astral?” Not all are so wise.

Related post: The Real Heaven

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The eighth and final installment of this special eight part series, A New Look at the Beatitudes, using The New Testament: An Expanded Translation, by Kenneth Wuest.

“Spiritually prosperous are those who have been persecuted on account of righteousness, because theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
–Matthew 5:10

Those who embody this beatitude get the same reward as those who manifest the first beatitude. The nature of righteousness has already been considered, so we need only look at what is mean by persecution. The Greek word is dioko, which means to pursue, to “hound,” someone, to put pressure on them. From its root word deilos, it means to attempt instilling fear in someone in order to make them timid. Oddly, it is itself the root word of diakonos–minister or deacon. Persecution, then, is inverted service: oppression.

The blessedness lies not in being maltreated but in the purpose for the maltreatment: the pursuit of righteousness. It is also important to realize that the persecution does not ultimately come from any individuals but from the forces of ignorance in the cosmos and in us. If we deal with the latter, the former will be defused.

Jesus continues this subject, saying: “Spiritually prosperous are you whenever they shall revile you and persecute you and say every pernicious thing against you, speaking deliberate falsehoods on account of me.” (Matthew 5:11) Those who hate the teacher hate the students as well. I know this by personal experience. Often hypocrites pretend to respect the teacher while being openly contemptuous of the disciples. This was very much the case around Anandamayi Ma. “I revere Ma, but have no use for those that live around her,” was a common statement made by Indians and non-Indians alike.

Anyhow, what is in store for those who would become righteous?

1. Oneidizo–being slandered, railed at, chided, taunted, reproached, reviled, and upbraided. All this, and more you can be sure. Mockery and defamation are hard gifts to accept but they are showered us those that seek the kingdom. “Oh! I’ve heard of you…,” and the recitation begins.
2. Dioko–already covered, but no less bitter in the receiving.
3. Eiposi pan poniron rema kath’ umon–all manner of evil-speaking directed against you. The sky–and hell–is the limit.

How should we react? With sweet but wan acquiescence and pardon? Not a bit of it! “Be rejoicing and exult exceedingly, because your reward is great in heaven. For in this manner they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:12) There it is, as plain as need be. Ignore the braying and the barking and the howling and rejoice in your spirit. Saint Luke uses the words chairo and agalliao. Chairo means to be cheerful in the sense of being calmly happy and content. It implies a kind of impersonal satisfaction. It does meant to rejoice and be happy, but in a very peaceful way. Agalliao, on the other hand means to jump for joy and exult, to rejoice greatly. We should rejoice both outwardly and in the peace of our inner being.

That which usually produces resentment, anger, or pain should be the cause of our great rejoicing. Why? “Because your reward is great in heaven”–not a mythological heaven little better than earth, but the true heaven, the boundless expanse of the Spirit. When we have our sights set on infinity, why would we do anything but rejoice, whatever comes.

We should note that our reward is because of righteousness, not because of the maltreatment and slander of the wicked and the foolish–they do the same to those who are not blessed.

In good company

“For in this manner they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Jesus really honors us by putting us in the company of the prophets, and the persecutors likewise honor us by holding the same opinion of us.

Do we know of a single holy person that was not persecuted and slandered–and worse? Many have been tortured and killed for the sake of righteousness. But so what: “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.” (Matthew 10:28)

All those who go against the current of the world are reacted to in a negative, even a hateful and destructive way, and this is one of the signs that they are going in the right direction. Let us be going!

Previous posts in this series:
• What Did Jesus Really Say in the Sermon on the Mount?
• The Kingdom of Heaven According to Jesus
• What Jesus Really Means by Meekness
• When Craving is a Good Thing
• Mercy and the Law of Karma
• Clean to the Core of Our Being
• The Spiritual Process of Making Peace

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Part 7 of a special eight part series, A New Look at the Beatitudes, using The New Testament: An Expanded Translation, by Kenneth Wuest.

“Spiritually prosperous are those who make peace, because they themselves shall be called sons of God.”
–Matthew 5:9

This beatitude has nothing to do with people who plead for peace, demonstrate or peace, protest for peace, or in some other way bully for peace. It is about making peace, actually creating peace rather than making a cause out of it. This requires a level of spiritual development that must first be obtained by each individual. So the first step in peacemaking is personal spiritual development.

The Greek word is eirenopoios, which is made up of two words: eirene and poieo.

Poieo means both making and doing, and also means to abide. Peacemakers, then, create, act out, and live in peace. A peacemaker “commits peace” just as others “make war.” Peace can be actively practiced. Poieo not only means to cause something, it means to perpetuate (preserve) it. Only in the spiritual realm can there be real “peacekeepers.” So peacemaking is a continual process. It also means to provide something, implying that peacemakers know how to share peace. In my experience this is an essential mark of a saint.

Eirene, the word translated “peace,” means peace, quietness (tranquility), and rest. It occurs ninety-two times in the New Testament, so it is an important subject indeed. It comes from the root word eiro, “to join,” and so has the same connotations as yoga. It also means oneness–unity–and the restoration of unity.

An example

From all this it has to be evident that peacemaking is an exclusively spiritual matter, even though it naturally will have external manifestations in the world around us. I had a bit of experience of this when I returned from my first trip to India. For quite some time I lived in a small room in a slightly rundown part of Los Angeles. This was no problem for me as a monk, but what was not so positive was the nature of the people in the house my room faced. Although a minister’s family, throughout the day they argued with one another and yelled at their little brother whose constant running around could somehow be heard in “my” house as though he was romping in there. On occasion they engaged in what they thought was singing–usually “pop” songs of the most annoying type.

Late one afternoon after some hours of meditation, I was sitting by the open window looking at a small statue of the Virgin Mary in my room. The “dynamic duo” were washing dishes across the way and burst into raucous strains of something awful. Ignoring the din, I mentally began reciting the Hail Mary. Instantly the caterwauling stopped and the two began sweetly singing Ave Maria. This was no coincidence, I was sure. This was confirmed by the fact that after I had been there a little less than a month the arguing and yelling stopped completely. Whenever I heard the little boy spoken to it was always with kindness, and he stopping bouncing off the walls. At least five people were sharers in my peace. Later I had the same kind of experience when working with a few dozen of the nastiest, most hostile people I ever dealt with. It only took a few weeks before peace reigned and the people were quiet and gentle to one another in place of the shouting, cursing, and name-calling that had prevailed when I first came there.

Sons of God

Peace is born in Silence, born in the hearts of those who enter and abide in the peace of meditation. They, too, are “born” and “shall be called sons of God.”

The word kaleo does not mean “called” in the sense of being declared or named something. Rather, it means to be bidden, to hear themselves being called for. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” (John 1:12) So the peacemakers shall be called to become the sons of God. Kaleo also means to be called in the sense of being urged on or incited to something. Peacemakers do not sit around feeling tranquil; they are stirred to move ever onward toward the divine Goal. It also means to hail someone with their name or title. So the peacemakers shall, like Jesus, hear the words: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5)

Sons are of the same species as their father and mother. Even more, physically they are of the very substance of their parents. To be sons of God is to be essentially the same as God our Father, to have that status revealed to us and manifested by us to the world.

Next: Part 8 and the last post of A New Look at the Beatitudes – Blessed Persecution: A Cause for Rejoicing.

Previous posts in this series:
• What Did Jesus Really Say in the Sermon on the Mount?
• The Kingdom of Heaven According to Jesus
• What Jesus Really Means by Meekness
• When Craving is a Good Thing
• Mercy and the Law of Karma
• Clean to the Core of Our Being

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Part 6 of a special eight part series, A New Look at the Beatitudes, using The New Testament: An Expanded Translation, by Kenneth Wuest.

“Spiritually prosperous are those who are pure in the sphere of the heart, because they themselves shall see God.”

The vision of God

In our relative experience, seeing something is not much in the way of comprehension, partly because there is much more to an object than outward appearance, and also because of the limitation and conditionings of our faculty of seeing. Also, the ordinary seeing of an object has no lasting effect on us since the seeing brings about no touching or linking of us with the thing seen. But God essentially is not an object but a subject–just as are we in our true nature. Therefore the “seeing” of God is the joining of the two subjects in a union of consciousness. This is a profound condition, the goal of all Yoga, for if it is persisted in, the merging of the two becomes inevitable. So a promise of the vision of God is a promise of union with God. Knowing what is requisite for that vision is then of prime concern to the intelligent seeker: purity in the sphere of the heart.

Kardia means not just the physical organ that circulates the blood, but embraces the ideas of thoughts, feelings, and mind. It means the core, the center of our being–our spirit–and thus the source of life itself. So Jesus is speaking of the essence of our being as well as its adjuncts of body and mind and their activities internal and external.

The Greek word katharos (from which we get catharsis) is very rich in meaning, and therefore very instructive for us. It appears twenty-eight times in the New Testament. It has many meanings:

1. Clean in the sense of having been made free from all impurities and implies a vigorous and thorough expulsion of all impurity.
2. Purged–as above.
3. Clear in the sense of having nothing obscuring it.
4. Transparent–as above.
5. Unmixed with any other thing whatsoever–absolute singleness of constitution as in chemical purity. This is an ideal symbol for perfect unity of consciousness.
6. Without defect–both without any flaw and also without any lack, complete in all ways.
7. Spotless, without any alien marking, and without any marking at all as that would disrupt its purity in the sense of perfect unity.

By using this word (The Hebrew word tahowr, which was no doubt used by Jesus, conveys the identical meanings. So we lose little in the translation from Hebrew/Aramaic to Greek except in those cases where the text has been deliberately falsified. But that is not a subject to cover here.) Saint Luke is conveying the idea that we must be clean, clear, undivided, and complete in our consciousness from all conditionings or limitations whatsoever. This is no small thing! And it cannot be accomplished without meditation as a major component of our life.

When this is accomplished we shall see–shall know–both ourselves and God. The Greek term optanamai means to see with wide-open eyes without obscurity, impediment, or interruption. Interestingly, it also means to be seen, anticipating the words of Saint Paul: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (I Corinthians 13:12) It also means to experience that which is seen. So the vision of God is the experience of divinity Itself and of assimilation to That.

A final meaning in this beatitude is conveyed by the word autos, which Wuest accurately renders themselves, the idea being that the pure in heart see God directly without any intermediary, and certainly see God for themselves, there being no need for another person to do it for them. This is most important, for it strips away the fraudulent mask of most religion. Despite the lip-service to the nature of the self (atma) and the capacity of human being for enlightenment, even in India we hear nonsense about gods or avatars or gurus “doing it for you” either altogether or in some degree. What a clever out for the ego clinging to its idols and toys of ignorance. “I need do nothing–or little–for it has been done for me by the mercy and grace of….” What degrading foolishness. If we do not “do it” it will not be done. Knowing this is the real grace and mercy of God and the saints.

Next: Part 7 of A New Look at the Beatitudes – The Spiritual Process of Making Peace.

Previous posts in this series:
• What Did Jesus Really Say in the Sermon on the Mount?
• The Kingdom of Heaven According to Jesus
• What Jesus Really Means by Meekness
• When Craving is a Good Thing
• Mercy and the Law of Karma

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Part 5 of a special eight part series, A New Look at the Beatitudes, using The New Testament: An Expanded Translation, by Kenneth Wuest.

“Spiritually prosperous are those who are merciful, because they themselves shall be the objects of mercy.”
–Matthew 5:7

“W
ith the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright,” (Psalms 18:25) sang David, and Solomon his son wrote: “The merciful man doeth good to his own soul.” (Proverbs 11:17)

Mercy is singled out in this beatitude to represent all other virtues in relation to other people, because whatever the positive behavior may be there is always at least a touch of mercy there. Furthermore, mercy carries within it lack of ego, kindness, good will, and love.

This beatitude also sets forth the law of karma, of sowing and reaping, (“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).) assuring us that all right actions come back to us in the form of blessings. [“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:14; see Mark 11:25). “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble” (Psalms 41:1). “He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he” (Proverbs 14:21). “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again” (Proverbs 19:17). “Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity” (Daniel 4:27).]

“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matthew 25:34-40)

“For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (I John 4:20)

Next: Part 6 of A New Look at the Beatitudes – Clean to the Core of Our Being.

Previous posts in this series:
• What Did Jesus Really Say in the Sermon on the Mount?
• The Kingdom of Heaven According to Jesus
• What Jesus Really Means by Meekness
• When Craving is a Good Thing

Enjoy this series? Subscribe to the Atma Jyoti Blog