Dharma of Food

Every living organism is destined to eat a particular type of food based on the shape and size of its body. “Dumb” animals lead their lives accordingly. Man, the more intelligent one, on the other hand, has no proper knowledge. He doesn’t know whether he should eat vegetarian or non-vegetarian food, cooked or raw food, or during the daytime or night, or both.

Man’s true lifespan is 100 years. Shouldn’t he eat the foods that will properly nourish his cells and allow him to live this long? Our life becomes waste if we cannot sharpen our intellect and attain jnana – wisdom - ultimately. The food we eat should help in the process. We should eat foods that will be digested easily, give us more energy, and create less waste material.

The main dharma of food is that it should contain life-energy, which in turn promotes life-energy in us. But we do not eat such staple foods. Instead we are cooking, frying, toasting and adding chemicals in various forms to our food. We are eating at odd hours. Even worse, we eat as much as our desires demand, ignoring the dharma of the body. Can a car run with kerosene in the place of gasoline? That is what we are attempting with our bodies. When we violate so many rules, how can we expect to have good health?

The body suffers because of the food we supply. Only by replacing the wrong food with right food suffering to the body can be avoided. No medicine can cure it permanently. For instance, our car uses unleaded gas. If it is not available at the nearest gas station, aren’t we going to go as far as we must to get it? When we realize this simple truth regarding an inanimate thing like our car, can’t we take greater care of our most precious possession, our one and only body? That we don’t is our greatest tragedy, our sin and curse. Call it whatever you want. It is not too late to realize our mistake and move in right direction.