Food is really the most important thing in our life. The Vedas say that “Food is verily the Brahman.” We will not be able to live without food. Strangely enough, we human beings don’t seem to know this fact. In reality, we have limited knowledge about the food we eat and how we should eat it. We eat foods that titillate our palates and not foods that suit the needs of our body! After some years of this senseless eating habits, the body naturally revolts and gives signs of disease and decay. Our bodies are the most perfect machines that the human mind can conceive. From the time of conception to the time of death, it is made to run perfectly even though it might show signs of wear and tear with the onset of age. But that is only natural. However due to the wrong foods and wrong lifestyle that we follow, the body can no longer cope up with the damage. We find that people succumb to all sorts of diseases at younger and younger ages. Given the right type of food, the body is capable of withstanding most onslaughts and even curing diseases that it might have incurred. But when the mistakes are made day after day, year after year the mechanism collapses.
Thus, Ayurveda says, “Let food be your medicine and medicine your food”!
All machines come with an instruction manual. If this is read and followed faithfully the machine will give us maximum performance. If this is not followed it stands to reason that the machine will be cranky and slow down and eventually stop functioning all together. This is what is happening to our bodies now. The Sanatana Dharma gives us very good instructions on the type and quality of foods that we should eat and the method and the time and so many other important factors which have been completely ignored by the modern generation. Our food habits have shifted to fast food and other exotic dishes from the West. These may be delicious and easy to prepare but they are not the best for our bodies. As I said, now we are starting to eat only for the sake of the palate, totally disregarding the needs of our body.
Every creature knows that it has to eat to live but every creature’s knowledge extends only up to the mouth. No creature knows what happens to the food after it leaves the mouth. Actually, the process of digestion starts from the mouth. The saliva secreted by the tongue plays a major role in digestion. Hence, we are told to masticate the food and rotate it around inside our mouth so as to get the maximum benefit from the saliva. The food we eat should have a pleasant aroma, which triggers the production of saliva even before we begin to eat. The food which has been masticated well, now goes down the alimentary canal without difficulty and reaches the stomach. Ayurveda refers to five types of winds, known as 'pancha vayus,' which play a role in various bodily functions.The samana vayu is the one which is in charge of digestion. So, it comes into force when the food reaches the stomach.
We think we have cooked the food and that it gets digested only due to our efforts. But this is not true. There is a fire of digestion in the stomach known as the Vaishwanara Fire which is the fire which actually “cooks” the food which has already been cooked by us. This fire has to be very strong if we want a good digestion. This fire is weakened by wrong eating habits and disease and old age. The food that we swallow is further processed by the internal digestive fire in our stomach.It is then separated into portions and sent to the appropriate parts of the organism – like blood, phlegm, muscle, brain etc. The subtlest parts of the food go to make up our mind. Now we see that digestion of food is a very complicated process. We also begin to understand what an important part food plays in our lives, both physically and mentally.
In Hinduism eating is both a science and an art. A lot of research has been done in Bharat about the type of food we should eat, the way we should eat it etc. The food we eat should be nourishing and healthy for both the body and mind. Ayurveda classifies people into the three body types – vata, pitta and kapha. These are known as “doshas”. Let us have a quick look at these.
Vata is the energy of movement, pitta is the energy of digestion or metabolism and kapha the energy of lubrication and structure. As we know our bodies as well as the universe is made up of five elements – akasha or space, vayu or air, agni or fire, apas or water and prithvi or earth. Vata is a mixture of akasha and vayu, Pitta a mixture of agni and apas and kapha a mixture of apas and prithvi. Everyone has all these three types in them but one of them is usually primary, the other secondary and the third is the least prominent.
Vata, is characterised by the mobile nature of wind, pitta, the transformative nature of fire and kapha the binding nature of water and earth.
Ayurveda gives elaborate diets to suit each of these “doshas” as they are called. These can be found in any chart on “diets to suit the doshas”. Actually, all the spices used in Indian cooking help to balance the doshas. Spices like, mustard, fenugreek, hing, cumin, coriander and green chillies, go to offset the drawbacks which we may have in our diet.
We are always advised to use only local and seasonal vegetables and fruits. Nature knows what is best for us and gives us the type of vegetables and fruits in each season, that are good for our system. So, it is best to keep to this rule and not spend large amounts of money buying foods coming from various parts of the globe that are not suitable for our seasons and our physical systems.
Sattva, rajas, and tamas are the three gunas (qualitative strings) by which Nature binds the immortal atman to the mortal body. Rajas is the quality of activity, tamas of inertia and sattva of harmony. The Bhagavad Gita gives another classification of foods according to these three gunas. Sattvic food is bland, nutritious, freshly made and naturally sweet. Rajasic food is hot, pungent and spicy. Tamasic food is stale, sometimes putrid, without any vitality. We can judge for ourselves what our type is by the kind of foods that appeal to us naturally!! Of course, it is OK to indulge occasionally and have some foods which are good for the taste and not just for the health. However, this should not become a habit!
Since food is so important for life, Hinduism gives certain points that we have to follow before we eat. These points are really very scientific.
First of all, we should keep specific times for eating. At those times the mind naturally inclines towards food. Food eaten when the sun is at its zenith will be most easily digested. So, our main meal should be at lunch time. Last meal should be had before the sun sets. This way we are able to get the maximum benefit from the power of the sun.
We should never eat when we are very, very tired. At that time the vital energy will be low and will be spent on energising the tired parts of the body and will not be free to go towards digesting the meal.
We should understand that digestion is equally as important as eating. There is no point stuffing ourselves with lots of food which the body cannot digest. Ayurveda says that undigested food turns into poison. It will putrefy in the stomach and give rise to all types of diseases.
Now many points are given to us on how to help the digestion. Our bodies as well as the world outside are made of the five elements – earth, water, fire, air and space (prithvi, apas, agni, vayu and akasha). The food we eat is also made up of these elements. Each of these elements have their own quality which has a corresponding sense organ in us which allows us to experience this world made up of the five elements. The quality of akasha is “sound”. The corresponding sense organ in us are the “ears”. The quality of vayu is touch and the sense organ is our skin. The quality of agni is form and the sense organs are the eyes which can perceive form. The quality of apas is taste and the corresponding sense organ is the tongue. The quality of prithvi is smell and corresponding organ is the nose. The food we eat should satisfy all these sense organs by which the elements will be satisfied, thus producing maximum benefit for us through the food.
Starting from prithvi or earth, the food should have a pleasant smell which actually activates the taste buds on the tongue and helps to produce the saliva which will aid digestion. Next comes apas or water which is what gives taste to the food and gives us pleasure when it comes into contact with the tongue that tastes it. Next in line is agni or fire which has the quality of sight. So, the food should look pleasant to the eyes. It should not be mixed up and served in a jumbled fashion. Now comes vayu which has the quality of touch. This is why in India we always eat with our fingers since the fingers are what gives the quality of touch. Finally, we have akasha or space with its ability to carry sound. The corresponding organs are the ears. This is why in India the perfect meal should have some sort of things, like chips or “pappadams” which give a pleasant crunchy sound when we masticate it!
The food we eat should be served on a nice plate and look pleasant and inviting to our eyes, it should have a good aroma which will activate our nostrils and a good taste which will activate the tongue and allow the production of saliva to increase. The meal should have some types of food which will crackle and make a sound when we bite so the ears are happy and finally it should be pleasant to the touch. This is why we eat with our fingers because only then will the sense of touch be activated.
Another important point to be noted is that there are five different “vayus” or “winds” in our body which are responsible for the various functions that go on automatically within body about which we are totally unaware. These vayus are called, “prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana. All these vayus have corresponding “mudras” or placements of the fingers of the hand that activate these vayus. Of these, the “samana vayu” is the one that is responsible for digestion. The mudra for samana vayu is made by holding all five fingers together so that the tips touch. This is another scientific reason why we are asked to eat with our fingers. This alignment of the fingers will activate the samana vayu and help in digestion and of course it gives the quality of touch which in turn activates the element of vayu in the atmosphere. So, you see how Hinduism has turned eating into a fine art which helps the body to digest the food that we are eating to perfection and thus gives maximum benefit to the organism.
As I have mentioned in some other blog, in Hinduism we do not demarcate life into sacred and secular. Everything is considered as sacred. Since eating is such an important part of our lives which we do at least three times daily, we should offer that food to the divinity that is present in our stomach and is called the “Vaishwanara Fire” without which food will not get digested.
Hence before we eat, we should wash our hands and sit before the food and fold our hands and repeat some verses which will help us to attune to the divinity within us and which will help to digest the food which is of such great importance in the maintenance and upkeep of this wonderful machine called the human body. If we trained our children in this art of eating, we would be giving them the priceless gift of good health. There are the three mantras to be chanted before eating.
“annapoorne, sadapoorne, Shankara pranavallabhe,
Jnana vairagya siddhyartam bhiksham dehi cha Parvati.”
Annapoorna is the name of Parvati in her role as the giver of food. So, in this mantra we are begging her to give us material food as well as spiritual food like “jnana and vairagya” which is wisdom and dispassion.
“aham vaishwanaro bhutva praninaam dehamashritaha,
Pranaapana samaayuktam pachamyannam chaturbhujam”
This verse comes from the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. In this the Lord tells Arjuna that He is the Vaiswanara fire of digestion which is found in the bodies of all creatures. He combines the prana and apana vayus and “cooks” the four different types of food.
“Aum Brahmarpanam, Brahmahavir, Brahmagnau, Brahmanahutam.
Brahmaiva tena gantavyam, Brahmakarma samadhina.”
This verse also comes from the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. “I offer this food to the Brahman, who is actually the offering, the fire, the utensils and the taste. Thus, may this act of eating lead me to that supreme divinity- the Brahman .”
Aum ‘tat sat!