Satvika ahara a Myth, Obesity is the truth, Mitha ahara is the Latest truth
In this article I try to discuss with the reader about importance of food and how modern pioneers Gandhi, Ramana Maharshi interpreted. I always felt vegetarian should utter the words of Mercy on seeing meat instead, not all but majority make faces and pass bad comments. In this article we see that it was always debate of pure and impure food in India rather than ahimsa and mercy through out history. History is blunt in saying that Vedic Hindus did not completely believe in ahimsa [C1 C2]
Thus Mauryan period helps us deduce that ancient India was bewildered and filled with animal sacrifices and rituals. Irrespective of what we deduce from Rig-Veda We have to Believe the solid rock inscriptions of Ashoka the great [5th Pillar Inscription] rather than interpretations of philosophers. But candid outburst of Revolutionary Buddha [Pali Text] , Basavanna and solid words of Vivekananda [C1 C2] , Ambedkar [Exclusive citations by Ambedkar] regarding rampant animal sacrifices in Ancient India cannot be ignored. The Farming community and people in general were frustrated with killing of cows and bulls as it risked Agriculture in addition they were very costly rituals. This gave rise to Buddhism which believed in “Ahimsa parmodharma” and swept the Majority of India with vegetarianism [rational behind ahimsa]. It seems Early Hindus performed sacrificial rituals and somehow did not believe in complete ahimsa, probably this is one of the reasons why some orthodox ritual hindus pinch their nose or pass bad comments when they see meat food rather uttering words of mercy.
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Rise of Acharyas who were great in temperament, deeds and philosophy.
As usual it seems history repeats, yes again history repeated, their follower’s blind attitude and rigidity laid the final giant slab decorated with ever alive Vedic ornaments namely ‘Rituals’ and ‘ceremonies’ under which got buried the 4th caste Shudra and 5th incipient caste, i.e. the untouchables still underneath.
Interpretation of “Ahara shuddi” a Upanishad phrase and hence found in Geetha decided the fate of 80% of Hindus namely so called shudras and so called untouchables
Acharya Sri Ramanujacharya [ 1017 - 1137 ] interpreted ‘Ahara shuddi as below’
[Blind following of the below interpretation, gave a death blow to so called shudras ]
Sri ramanuja took the literal meaning and said intake of a man should be pure in the sense it should not have mainly 3 doshas
a) Jati dosha [ Defect in the class of food, onion, garlic, meat funda]
b) Ashraya dosha [ Defect in who brings the food]
c) Nimitta dosha [ impure things coming in contact of another]
This interpretation is the chief reason why you see even now the fellow orthodox ritualistic hindus[ Majority of them] make faces & sounds `Thu`, `Chi`, `Kya` when they see Alien food or meat food. When ever an orthodox Hindu goes to a shudras marriage etc. Every gobi manchurian looks to them as a pieces of chicken. For centuries we discussed what is pure and impure. Never gave importance to ahimsa, history clearly mentions that ahimsa was never a concern, but purity and impurity was the concern. Unfortunately I feel sad, Ahimsa was never advocated as a fundamental principle, no doubt you find 1000's of shlokas advising ahimsa in Hindu culture.
Hence he said Religion has gone to kitchen [ says Swami Vivekananda ]
The wonder Interpretation by Sri Shankara [ 788 - 820 AD, but not followed much]
But the great acharya Shankara interpreted it differently, he says Ahara means thought collected in mind, when that becomes pure, the satva becomes pure.
If food alone would purify the satva, then feed the monkey with milk and rice all its life would it become yogi. So once your mind is pure, you may eat what you like.
Vivekananda says, both are necessary, but Shankaras is the primary Idea. Pure food no doubt helps pure thoughts. Defect is Modern India has forgotten the advice of Shankaracharya and taken only the pure food meaning.
That is why people get Mad at me when I say, religion has gone to kitchen. In Madras people will throw away food if you look at it [p 275, Lectures of swami Vivekananda, From Colombo to Almora].
Mitha ahara is the Latest truth
If one claims mitha ahara [right amount of food intake] is a new interpretation, one would be foolish. Sadly primary aspects of Hindu scriptures never got circulated by Vedic cult or its followers. The reason is all along history we followed things blindly.
Ignorant Orthodox Hindus think that avoiding garlic, onion and meat is all about Satvika ahara. But it’s unfortunate every 2 out 3 priests who boasts to be a satvika man is obese.
So Satvika ahara is all about
a) Consuming just the right amount of food. Mitha ahara in addition
b) to shankaras purity in thoughts.
Pioneers in propagating Mitha ahara in addition to vegetarianism are
a) Gandhi
They just did it in a simple manner. Simple living high thinking.
With proper scientific reasoning spread by these saints no doubt you see, in just less than 50 years, Millions of meat eaters have stopped eating meat and turned to vegetarianism. Because of the efforts of people like Gandhi..
So I conclude
oh Non- Meat eater, please educate the Meat Eater and respect any food instead of passing obnoxious comments.
Oh Meat Eater, kindly reduce the frequency of meat intake, so that next generation quits it completely.
This article provides a detailed philosophical, historical, archaeological and citations from Sanskrit, Buddhist and vachana literature. Food in the eyes of Vedic citations is provided [Rig-Veda C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 ] [Soma Sacrifice ] and post Vedic citations from [C7 - C15 ] Shastras like Manushastra, Kautilya Artha Shastra etc speak about meat consumption and regulation of meat as in when it should be consumed, when it should not etc. are mentioned. In addition Symbolic and metaphorical analysis is touched upon [Rig Veda Rescued] which talks about hidden meaning in Vedas. Nevertheless solid words of Vivekananda, Buddha and Basavanna outweigh the symbolic interpretation.
Notable Historians like Haraprasad Shastri R S Sharma restate the same with their detailed historical analysis.
Final conclusion is left to the reader. I am satisfied with logical arguments of Buddha, history, Vivekananda rather than the hypothetical metaphorical argument of certain sectional interests who argue in vain to safeguard their personal pride. Appreciate the history, the thought process that has gone.
Rig-Veda C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 FOOD- DRINK Gambling Soma Sacrifice Rig Veda Rescued Yaska Aurobindo on Rig-Veda Pali Text C8 Manushastra C9 Brhaspati C10 Mallinatha C11 minister of a Tanjore ruler C12 C13 similes and metaphor C14 Archaeological evidences C15 Basavanna CRY CRY O GOAT Ahimsa paramodharma Rise of new Religions Ashoka the great 5th Pillar Inscription Haraprasad Shastri R S Sharma Kautilya Artha Shastra rational behind ahimsa \b \b0 Decline of Buddhism Was Vivekananda wrong Ahara Shuddi Ahara Shuddi : Ramanuja Ahara Shuddi : Shankara Satvika ahara a Myth Obesity is the truth Gandhi Sri Ramana Maharshi Mercy Futile Argument References Why I Wrote Exclusive citations by Ambedkar
Detailed Citations about Food and drink in Vedic, period, post Vedic period, archaeological evidences etc are mentioned
http://horahaaku.blogspot.com/2011/08/food-drink-kitchen-rise-and-fall-of.html
