Sattvic food and beyond
Recently I was discussing with some close person what constitutes sattvic food and beyond. A lot is said about sattvic food and there are many restaurants I have seen named sattvic. The Jains eat sattvic food and so do the Vaishnavas and Brahmans. Will try to explain what constitutes sattvic food and why it is important..
The Vedic culture is based on Sanatana dharma is based on the answers to few of the fundamental questions like Who am I, What is the purpose of living, Who was I before birth and what will become of me after death? Is there a supreme controller (God) and what is my relation to him? The answers to this constitute the entire range of Sanatana Dharma which is spread across many literatures that are available.
Generally although these questions are fundamental to every living being, however such questions and quest to pursue such ideals are possible only for people who remain in mode of goodness or sattvic. The person who are very passionate or are too lazy are said to be in modes of rajas and tamas. The former is more attracted in expanding their worldly activities and the latter are too happy just eating, mating and sleeping. Only in a person who is sattvic is the quest to known the meaning of life very strong.
Thus being sattvic is a way of life and not just related to food. The subject of sattva, rajas and tamas is a huge topic discussed in various sections of the Bhagwad Gita and the 14th chapter deals with it elaborately. Some of the sattvic qualities include cleanliness, tolerance, moderation, joyfulness, satisfaction, peaceful, knowledgeable among others. In material consideration being sattvic constitutes a happy life, well balanced and ideal Krishna advises us that for people who want to go to transcendental stage it is nothing but a pre-requisite. In case of The impersonalists the transcendental destination is to merge into Brahman and for The Vaishnavas it means Going back to Vaikuntha.
Thus we have seen how important sattvic life is for achieving the goal of life as per the Vedic way of life. One of the major factors which influence the sattvic way of life is the food. It is agreed upon and concurred by everyone that the food we eat does have a definite effect on our state of mind and our moods. If the mind is properly situated then following a sattvic life is very much possible. So now we will describe how to recognize if food is sattvic or not.
All ingredients including cereals, vegetables, fruits, pulses, nuts and milk constitute sattvic food. There are 5 exceptions which are not sattvic. Onions, Garlic , Masoor dal (red) , egg and meat are not sattvic and should be off the menu for people who are serious about spiritual life. Onions and garlic are generally food which are known to cause bad breath and increase body odor. They also when consumed have a tendency to agitate the mind towards lust and can break vows of celibacy when consumed in excess. Onion also is known to attract a lot of germs towards it and are kept outside houses to attract all germs towards it. Garlic is used as medicine in case of impotence among others. Egg and meat are also more in tamasic state and should be avoided. Also there is taking of life(violence) involved in case of both which makes the food tamasic. There are people who debate that plants also have lives. However we see that most of vegetable, fruits and nuts do not involve direct killing. Cereals are harvested when they are about to be dried. If some thing is debatable it is best to take the authority of the scriptures to decide what constitutes sattvic or not. The 5 items mentioned should be avoided in any case.
Another criteria is the food should be consumed/offered within 3 hrs. Including refrigeration.
Leftover food (plate remains) is not sattvic. Thus a lot of emphasis is placed on not making the food jhuta (tasted). Proper Indian way of cooking is not taste the food at all at the time of cooking. The person eating the food should not even touch his hands on the serving spoon without washing his hand. Generally Indian custom is one person serves the food while others have their food.
Having sattvic food is very conducive for spiritual growth. However there is certain amount of sin always present while eating sattvic food. For example many germs are killed while heating and by the flame. Thus Krishna says in Bhagwad Gita that those who do not offer food to him verily eat sin only!!! Of course this is at a much smaller scale than meat eating but still it is there. Thus the proper way of eating food is by offering it to Krishna or Vishnu in the altar and having the food as prasad. This is the perfection of sattvic food eating. Eating only prasad.
The food offered to the Lord (Bhoga) must be sattvic and prepared under the previous guidelines and conditions. The Bhoga is for the Lord and the remnants Prasad has to be consumed by everyone. Thus one can make fast progress to go back to Krishna in Vaikuntha.
