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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00021 Jun 2004

 
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             (continuing from Part 4)
------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

Then there is Food that is fit only for the Man of
"rajas" -- i.e. for him who is of Dionysian character,
who is filled with restless energy, constantly being
driven to action by powerful passions and impatient
inner drives, who wants to conquer the world or change
it, be a leader of men and of the times... 

Such men, says the Bhagavath-Gita, will need a dietary
regime that will keep the inner engines of their
"rajasic" personality running full steam on all
cylinders. The general diet of such men will tend to
consist of Food that is bitter, sour, very salty,
exceedingly spicy and pungent, dry and burning
(Chapter XVII.9).

Judging by the standards of the Bhagavath-Gita, much
of what the modern world of today eats is essentially
of the "rajasic" grade. It is meaty, greasy, spicy,
rich, palate-tingling, tangy, aromatic, irresistibly
tasty... In a word, it is all that the popular
expression "yummy, yummy!" might suggest to us!
"Rajasic" cuisine is essentially meant to  titillate
and satiate deep-seated instincts of the gourmet and
it is the reason hence why it is extremely tempting.
It is very easy in fact to over-eat and over-indulge
in the full range of "rajasic" foods available in the
world today -- hamburgers, sausages, steak, pizzas,
pasta, enchilladas, biriyAni, exotic chocolates,
caramel, creamy pastries and so on and so forth...

If we understood well the nature of "rajasic" foods 
we would not fail to also understand why millions of
children and teenagers in the world quickly fall in
love with and become slaves to all kinds of "junk
food" pedalled by any number and all manner of
"fast-food" chains and restaurants. If over-eating and
obesity are fast assuming alarming proportions as
health-hazards throughout the world, it is mainly
because of the enormous content of "rajas" in the Food
the people eat. 

The amount of "rajasic" food that is over-eaten and
over-indulged in the world is exceeded only by the
huge amounts of it that is also criminally wasted. If
one were to take a census of all the "fast-food"
chains in the world and of all the hotels, restaurants
and eating-joints, and then actual stock is taken of
the heaps of "left-overs", "throw-aways" and discarded
foodstuff which all ultimately find their way into
millions of trash-cans and garbage-dumps in the
world... If one could visualize all that, it would not
be difficult at all to imagine the colossal amounts of
food being wasted away daily in our own lifetime. If
one were to impute an economic value to all the food
so discarded in the world today, it would be quite
enough indeed to set up yet another UN Food and
Agriculture Organization, another FAO! 

It was keeping in mind the mammoth potential for Food
wastage on a global-scale, especially of the "rajasic"
variety, that the Upanishad warned -- "annam na
pari-chaksheeta!"
                   *************
                   (to be continued)

Rgds,

dAsan,
Sudarshan






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