In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna clearing out a very important misconception that Arjuna had with regards to performing our “Yogam”. This misconception is quite prevalent in today’s scenario as well. Arjuna asks Bhagawan Krishna whether we should sacrifice our food and sleep if we’ve to perform the “Yogam” meticulously and succeed in it. For this, Bhagawan clarifies that such a sacrifice is not required. Of course, “Yogam” requires concentration and perseverance as we’ve seen earlier, however, this should not come at the expense of food and sleep. These two parameters are basic necessities of life and Bhagawan explains that a sound physical body is required if we’ve to perform the “Yogam”. We should consume food that is necessary for our survival, but should not end up overeating. At the same time, we should ensure that we get sufficient rest by sleeping adequately, but should not end up oversleeping. Thus, in both these aspects, we should ensure a balance as we keep performing our “Yogam”.
Now this is a very important point which needs more contemplation. Given today’s scenario, our exposure to various varieties and kinds of food has drastically increased with time. When it comes to consuming food, it also involves consuming and releasing certain types of energies as well. This is why, Bhagawan is explaining that for performing the “Yogam”, our food must be “Sathvik” in nature. This means, our food should contain a bare minimal amount of salt, sugar, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals and fats. Everything should be in a balance and one should not dominate the other. If for instance, carbohydrates and fats start to dominate in our food habits (Maybe consuming more rice varieties), the body will start getting into a “Tamasic” mode and we would start feeling sleepy. Hence, if we enter into the “Tamo Guna”, there is no question of performing the “Yogam” anymore, isn’t it? 🙂 This is where we’ve to be careful. Moreover, if we’ve to succeed in our “Yogam” and when we say that we’ve to maintain the “Sathvik” nature of our food, it is also imperative that we should avoid food that is non-vegetarian in nature. Of course, this might be something that may invoke some harsh feelings and reactions, but we’ve to remember one aspect very clearly – Consuming non-vegetarian food items increases our “Rajo Guna” and “Tamo Guna” drastically, because of certain negative vibrations associated with this variety of food. When we consume non-vegetarian food, we’re consuming the dead body of another living being, which was forcefully killed by someone else, isn’t it? When a living being is killed, aren’t we inflicting a lot of pain into it? This pain transforms into negative vibrations and these are very harmful for our spiritual progress. We may still say that by consuming these food varieties, we might get a lot of proteins and other nutrition, but when it comes to vibrations, it is something that hampers our “Yogam” big time! Hence, if we’ve to excel in our “Yogam” and “Dhyaanam” as per whatever Bhagawan says here, we’ve to slowly shun the habit of consuming non-vegetarian food.
Now that we’ve spoken about non-vegetarian food, what about the vegetarian varieties of food? Of course, this is highly advisable, but just because of this, we might end up consuming more! If we seemingly consume more food than required, we should do adequate physical exercises, so as to keep our body fit. This is also essential. Consuming vegetarian food and of a higher quantity will again lead us to bad vibrations and our body will start containing excessive amounts of fats and carbohydrates deposited in it. Again, this would make our “Tamo Guna” dominate, and ultimately our focus on the “Yogam” and “Dhyaanam” is lost!
Thus, the point is very clear here – The success / failure of our “Yogam” is directly related to the food that we consume. Hence, we should be very careful in the food that we eat every day. So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue this discussion further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 