Sattvic food and beyond

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. 

Last sunday (16th August) MPP association notes

Devotees are not different from lord.
Thinking prabhupada means thinking of krsna ..n u become so much grateful so at time of death..u ll go back..only by his mercy ..i got this KC. Krishna is never thought of separated from his devotee.
Is there a whole without a part..similarly if u r a part n connected then u r not w/o whole but in saparated/conditioned state we r apart from whole.

Q) Is everything destined, how much free will we have ?

A) In your journey B (birth) to D (death), there is C (choice) also, so ur freedom is what path you will choose, but milestones (eg, educ. Wealth. material Sukkha ) are destined in human form. Milestones -degrees of happiness, means may be different. Whether u get a btech ,bsc ..u crossed that milestone..ur choice was only dat in what kind of knowledge but education was fixed.eg drinking juice from steel glass and bronze glass, the taste is the same, only difference is of glass...milestone same but the means may change. If someone bcm attached to that particular type of sense enjoyment...eg suppose he wants to drink juice from gold glass only.. then he will over endeavor to gratify this desire..which is the cause of all the anxieties of this world...so give up this desire, thus anxiety.
Milestones are fixed, only roads can change..so material happiness/distress is fixed.
Once one knows this knowledge, he (for human only) will no longer put their energy in changing this..bcoz it cannot be changd(material milestones)..but now u ll put ur energy where u can change..spiritual life. There is no milestone initially , but based on ur energy put here u can advance beyond limits of imagination. So real freedom lies here, in domain of spiritual happiness, not in material happiness. So the more u struggle to becm pure devotee the more quicker u bcm but , in material the more or less ,u will reach the milestone. So, there is a minimum path to reach that milestone so by the knowledge of this that it is fixed u can take  the path of minimum endeavor. (Past life destined-human life utility given , do ur normal duty but struggle for  where its make a difference..eg by extracting x kcal u can lift a thing from A to B by displacement but if u put 3x by lifting it from A to B by distance..so one who is intelligent will not over endeavor and thus will take the path of displacement (minimum distance path) rather than the distance (longer versions)-this over endeavor is what causong full stress for material world).

CASE STUDY:

1.) suppose if u want to learn guitar..but you can see that you have no natural inclination towards it...then why u r so struggling..something not naturally coming..in flow..that is over endeavor.
2) So whoever big successful man tells about how they r now, how they reached here..they say work hard is the key to success..never believe them..instead ask them why they r teliing it now.. but they didnt say earlier before getting it..complete cheating..maybe ppl who have done 10 times more hard work..why they r not there..or why they are not 10 times more richer/successful than that person?
3) Lord is saying that material happiness/distress is fixed...or milestones are fixed...he is not an ordinary person..so somehow or other we have to believe him then realization will start to cm..
4) So from 1 milestone to 2nd milestone..some sequences of success/failure may be there..but overall u will get to that 2nd milestone that is for sure ..so krsna tells in BG ..do things as matter of duty..then you will not get affected..from envy/jealousy..bcoz you know the law of karma.
So ur intelligence will be effectively utilized in work..but not simple wasted on emotions. A kc person does not make much endeavor to maintain his body,  whatever comes easily he remain satisfied..he labors for what is in his power..n then keep him satisfied with watever comes by dat..fruits..so honest labor..satisfied with watever fruit..thus independent from material happiness/distress. So, many way u cn overwork..intellectual overwork, not doing honestly (bcm rich but earn bag full of papas-sins), bodily overwork, mental overwork for material gains...bt for service of lord..he will not put limit..he ll try extreme measure to progress.egsomebody gives black money he will take it..its all krsna money.
5) So these self books...they say u to dream so much maybe opposite to ur destiny ...then ppl becm distressed/depressed then they go to a psychiatrist.
So out of those who read that book..only 5% get their goal..and they will rate (give review) very will..95% who does not get success will not rate it out of shame...and thus since dey did not become successful dey will not come out n tell dat dis doesnot work..instead dey may think that i did not get the msg my other fellow did..so this is all mental speculation.
So there is struggle in kc also but this is enjoyable..fruits are tasty..but this struggle cannot be separated from us (as long as we are in this material world and we have a material body...whether in spiritual life or material life..u hv to struggle) in one strugle u get nothing..things r fixed but here in spiritual paramatma gets pleased so progress can happen beyond any limits, fruits are tasty.

Jealousy-negative thought control?

Jealousy/lust- make u prisoner of sense object..u go on thinking of that sense object...so give up by applying the sword of knowledge.

Mind level-knowledge:understand why? Some difference causing dat b/w us n other.
Body level-develop self control 

Q) Morning when we leave hostel, we feel fully charged after doing sadhana but as the day passes working in company,our energy start to go down and since we start to feel completely discharged of energy at that time we become more prone to get influenced by anarthas inside us, so prabhu plz tell how to address this issue on daily basis? How to keep our momentum going..?
A- 1.) read books in night time for 2 hrs..if job is so horrible that not allowing to have such work-life balance .. change job.
2) Material life is horrible..join temple..krsna will take care..
3) Do job where u can save ur spiritual life also..else leave job or dont take it.. they take away ur prana ..ur boss will take away urs ..his boss will take away his prana.

4) Krsna will administer a medicine when it will work like a medicine not like poison.like prabhu is president..so very high position given by krsna..but it can work like poison also ( pride)..so need to remember krsna.

* Dont take pleasure, give pleasure. We r also plsr beings like krsna but krsna's constitutional position is in taking plz..ours is in giving plsr. Just as any lover takes plsr in giving plsr to its loved one.

Q) Chanting-thinking or no thinking.
A) Thoughts are there..since mind cannot be deprived from thoughts ..but processing of thought is different than thoughts..so thoughts can come while chanting which may be even related to spiritual/devotion..but processing is an activity so since i can do one thing at a time (our brain is not hardwired to do multitasking efficiently)..so u just hear. One activity ..u hear.
Krsna name so powerful ..u keep on hearing and chanting. Processing will stop.. thoughts r product of our subconsciousness..and it may change as u go on chanting. So, thoughts r not enemy (one after another ).

Prabhupada on free will of Jiva

It is not that we first have to be contacted by the modes of material nature to fall down from Goloka or Vaikuntha.

It’s all to do with a combination of choice and the sheer smallness of the marginal living entity because there is no Maya in Vaikuntha but there is ''always'' choice and we ''can'' fall down from even Goloka Vrndavan because of the ''ability to choose'' Srila Prabhupada explains this.

Srila Prabhupada - ” So, even in the Vaikuntha, if I desire that ‘Why shall ...I serve Krishna? Why not become Krishna?’ I immediately fall down. That is natural. A servant is serving the master, but sometimes he may think that, “If I could be come the master.” They are thinking like that; they are trying to become God. That is delusion. You cannot become God. That is not possible. But he’s wrongly thinking”.

Vipina Purandara - “Why doesn’t Krishna protect us from that desire?
Srila Prabhupada - “He’s protecting. He says, “You rascal, don’t desire. Surrender unto Me.” But you are rascal; you do not do this”.
Vipina Purandara - “Why doesn’t He save me from thinking like that?
Srila Prabhupada - “That means you lose your independence. That is force, in Bengali it is said, ‘If you catch one girl or boy, ‘You love me, you love me, you love me.’ ” Is it love? “You love me, otherwise I will kill you!’ Is that love? So Krishna does not want to become a lover like that, on the point of revolver. ‘You love me, otherwise I shall kill you!’ That is not love; that is threatening. Love is reciprocal, voluntary, good exchange of feeling. Then there is love. Not by force; that is rape. Why one is called lover, another is called rape?”
July 8, 1976 in Washington, D.C

3 classes of intelligent ppl- By amitasana prabhu's lecture

THERE ARE 3 KINDS OF PEOPLE IN WORLD , BROADLY SPEAKING-

1. 1ST CLASS OF INTELLIGENT-

Those who hear from authority and accept what they are saying. Because of the experience , because of their knowledge, they don't have to make costly mistakes.

to give an example,crude ex.

Lets say a child is playing near the stove, the mother is envolved in her activities so, the mother saw her child playing around the stove tells her child "Don't go near to the stove, it will burn you".

If the child listens to the mother, and thus keeps away from the stove he is called first class intelligent. 

We have examples of many devotees from bhagvatam who are dfirst class intelligent. They spend most of their times in listening, sravanam from the authorative sources and lead their life with that knowledge. We don't have to reinvent the events, we don't have to make ghostly mistakes, the great acharyas who have seen life, experienced life know what is maya? who knows what traps us in this material existence? Who knows what is the root cause of entanglement?

Who is knows what is the root cause of anxiety? 

They have  shared their life, their wisdom, their enlightenment so if we lead life based on the wisdom they have shared then we are first class intelligent.

2. 2ND CLASS OF INTELLIGENT

Sometimes or most of the times people  don't have faith. Lets take example of this child mother is saying "Don't put hand in fire" but then the child is adamant , doesn't believe in what mother is saying, goes and actually puts the hand in fire and gets burned. Actually the hands get burned , first aid and few days after it gets cured. So, the child now realizes that what mother has said is true, I should not put hands in fire and if he realizes and again thus not put his hands in fire, he is called 2nd class intelligent.

3. 3RD CLASS OF INTELLIGENT

There is another category of intelligent people. Mother is saying don't put your hands in fire, he doesn't listen, puts his hands in fire and goes through the process of cure, gets recovered, realized what mother is saying is true, momentarily that realization is still with us but again when the hands get cured, we again tempted to put that hand in fire . In hindi we say "nahi sudhrenge". We keep repeating the same mistakes. So, in kaliyuga most of us belong to which category.

The crowd said "3rd class intelligence"

Devotee (laughingly) " very confidently we are saying 3rd class intelligence". Actually it is a fact, most of us belong to this 3rd class intelligent people. In present days world, the science is all about experience, experiment, empirical knowledge, hardly we have faith in what wise people, the acharyas like srila prabhupada have given us instructions in his books, we hardly have faith.

So, here Narada muni is sharing with us "what is the root cause of all anxities? All of us having anxieties? So, what is the root cause of all such anxieties? "

If we are 3rd class intelligent , if we hear and abide by these instructions and mold our life, we can also be first class intelligent. 

"You take. But don't kill me. Let me live. I am eating only grass."

I have several times explained in this class that nobody has got any food problem. Simply the so-called civilized, advanced in science, these people have got problems of foodgrains. Otherwise, there are millions of elephants, they are eating very nicely. There are ants, there are elephants, there are tigers, there are monkeys, there are trees... So many, 8,400,000 forms of body. How they are eating? Unless they are eating... We kill animals, but the animals do not come to the..., to us, that "We are starving. Give us food." Never. By nature, there is arrangement, foodstuff. The cows, the other animals, they are eating grass. There is profuse growth of grass. So they are not eating your nice foodstuff, sandeśa, rasagullā. You are making sandeśa, rasagullā from the milk which they deliver. They are eating grass and delivering you nice foodstuff, milk. And from the milk, you can make hundreds and thousands of nice, nutritious, full of vitamin foodstuff. But no. We are so fool that instead of utilizing the milk, we are utilizing the blood. You see?

These rascals, the scientists, they do not know that milk is nothing but transformation of the blood. That everyone knows. So if you want to... That is nature's way, by God's will, that a cow gives forty pounds, fifty pounds milk daily, but it does not drink. Although it is her milk, no, it gives you, human society: "You take. But don't kill me. Let me live. I am eating only grass." Just see. And the civilized men killing them, killing them. And they want peace. Just see the fun. Without touching your foodstuff, the cow is eating the grass which is given by God, immense grass, and they are giving you the finest foodstuff, milk. Just after your birth you have only to drink milk, either mother's milk... Nowadays, mothers do not supply milk. That is also to be supplied by the cow. So from the very beginning of my life I am subsisting by the foodstuff given by mother, cow, and when I am grown up, I kill. This is my gratitude. Just see. And they are called civilized. Less than lowest animal, narādhama. They are called narādhama, lowest of the mankind. Those who are killing cows, maintaining slaughterhouse, they are lowest of the mankind. They are not human being. Less than animal. They have no gratitude.

Krishna's Mercy to Putana (SB Lecture)

Today we were blessed to have a class on Srimad Bhagwatam(SB) by the grace of Vainetya Das Prabhu
Baby Krishna killing demon Putana was the theme of the discussion.
10th canto chapter 6, killing of demon Putana by Lord Krishna is discussed today. For our encouragement so that we don't feel disheartened in our sadhana he wanted to discuss this beautiful pastime of Lord Krishna in his baby form.
Always struggle is going on for those who want to do spiritual practices seriously not simply for fashion (like today yoga means only to keep body and mind healthy but people don't know that yoga is not meant for this only- the meaning of yoga is union -of- soul and supersoul or jivatma nd paramatma ka milan, the health benefit for body and mind comes automatically as a side effect but that should not be our only motive, we should inquire the real purpose of yoga or meditation then only we can be free from our material misery permanently otherwise only temporary benefits we can get).
So, Krishna and guru present inside our heart sees our struggle in following the spiritual principles in our life and when he sees that we are sincerely trying then he becomes pleased and then only all the changes/transformation happens.
Like, it is said that there are 9 stages of devotional moods that can be attained by a devotee to become perfect that starts from Shraddha (faith), sadhu-sanga (association of devotee), bhajan kriya (sadhana & kirtan), anartha nivriti (purification),  then Nishtha (firmness) then Ruci & Asakti followed by ..Bhava then Prema (love).
So, Shraddha (faith) and Nishtha (firmness of faith) can be achieved by our own efforts but to go beyond this that is Bhava (mood of love) and prema (pure love to god) can only be achieved by the mercy of Krishna and spiritual master.

AND WHAT TO SAY ABOUT MERCY of KRISHNA?
He knew that Putana in the disguise of beautiful woman has come to kill him by spreading poison on her breast but he still saw that as devotional service and accepted Putana as her mother because she was offering milk to Krishna and thus after killing her he killed all her sinful reactions also and freed her soul from this material life of continuous birth and death and thus she attained liberation.
So, similarly, he gave liberation to everyone whom he killed like Kamsa, Shishupala, everyone who was killed in the great battle of Mahabharata attained liberation so we can see how much merciful Krishna is who awards liberation to even his enemies (actually for Krishna no one is enemy everyone is his child but just like when child rebels against his father and fight with him but Krishna is not an ordinary father he is the most merciful father and thus give liberation to all such sons also who rebelled against him) So, what to speak of those who always love him and try to serve him. So, he is infinitely merciful and he can do anything , he just wants us to have faith in him.
In BG 18.66 Krishna says:
Sarvadharmana parityajya mam ekam, sharnam vraja
aham tvam sarva papebhyo, mokshayisyami ma sucah.
O Arjuna, it is my personal wish that you just surrender to me , become my devotee and then you don't have to worry about anything because I will take care of all your bad karmic account and you will come to me after death as all you account will cleared by me and you don't have to take birth again in this material world which is called (dukhalayam asastvam- temporary and miserable), also padam-padam vipadam means on each step there is danger. Death, life threatening disease can come anytime we don't know when. So, unless we become devotee there's always worry of such things but when we  become devotee we don't need to worry anymore because Krishna will personally take care of ourselves.

CPP class night association

CPP Class 12th July Sunday Night 9pm-10pm:

Question: 

What is the difference between Krishna consciousness and Islam, Buddhism or Christianity?

The purpose of all the religions is one. To love God. To come close to God. You can follow any religion, any one of them but the only checkpoint should be that how much close to God you have come. Does that religion bring love of God into you? How much close you have come to God consciousness?  If the very purpose of the religion which is to love God is not getting fulfilled then you should think about following such religion.

How to love God?

To love God you need to know more about that personality, you need to know His activities, His looks, His nature, His behavior, His behavior to those who are His devotees, His strength, His Weaknesses, when He becomes happy when sad & all. These details are required in order to love any person, until & unless you know all these details you can't love that person.

For Example:

Scenario: Suppose you are in love with a Girl.

let's go back to where it started first of all....how did you meet her....so you say i met her on Facebook...and then you fell in love with her....no that's not possible....you met her on Facebook ...and then you started talking to her....you get to know her name...whats does she do...what does her parents do.....where she is from...whats does she like to do....what she does not like to do.....then you met her several times.....you interacted with her....you went out for movies....spent some time together & all and then you fell in love with her....right?right ?.

So in order to love God....same way you need to know more details about Him....and all these details...extensive details....lot lot lot more details are present in the Vedas and scriptures.There are extensive details and lots of description are present in the Vedic literature and scriptures....which tells us more about God....how does He look like...what's His color...Where He lives & all.But if we go to some other religion like Islam or Christianity or Buddhism these details are not present....they think God has no form...& all....well if God can give us form...why can't He have a form....????

Question asked by one Boy to a priest:

Suppose you are riding a bicycle from 20 years, then you must be very expert in that. You don't have to put so much effort to drive it as it becomes very easy. Similarly God is managing this planet and many universes from a long long time....from millennium years.....then He must be expert in doing all these things....he would not have to put so much effort in doing so....it must be very very easy for Him to manage all these things. So now the Boy asked the question to the priest that if it's very easy for God to do all these things, then what does God do rest of the time....it must be very boring for Him there in heaven....He will be sitting uselessly having nothing to do.....then Heaven must be a Boring place....right...??

Then priest could not answer this Question of the Boy.

Whereas in the Vedas and scriptures these all details are mentioned:

It is said that there is always festival and celebration going on in heaven (Vaikuntha)....YOGMAYA (pleasure potency of the lord) is always and every moment creating situations and scenarios just to enhance the pleasure of God and for everybody there....every time celebration Dance and all is going on there.So heaven is never boring, neither God gets bored, neither anybody living there.