food-drink-kitchen-3

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]

Part I-and II summary

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

b) Sri Ramana Maharshi

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

Food – Drink – Kitchen -2

In this chapter-II we see mauryan conditions and what artha sahstra says about food style, it gets clear that Early India moves towards Ahimsa almost completely from frequent animal sacrifices in Vedic period.

Summary part I [click for chap I]
In the vedic period Animal sacrifices were very common[C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6], killing of the best bulls/cows would mean the annihilation of the entire race (no bulls -> no farming -> no food). The farming community got frustrated with it and this was one of the primary reasons why people liked Buddhism [ Haraprasad Shastri R S Sharma], in fact for the birth of Buddhism and hence rise of great Mauryan kingdom. No doubt Buddha [Rise of new Religions] stressed on ahimsa that went through pain seeing the ritualistic Aryans.

Light Of Asia

Here Comes the Light of Asia, Buddha, he gives a jolt to the Vedas and sends shocks across the ritualistic sacrificial ceremonies, he then extracts a beautiful theory from Upanishads and contributes to the world via Tipitikas. He gives to the world the concept of Ahimsa.

Yes we have to accept that ahimsa was know to Vedic rishis, but for some unknown reason misinterpretation of Vedas resulted in blind literal adaptation of the vedic description which resulted in sacrificial practices.

Ahimsa Paramodharma

Buddha declared: "Ahimsa Paramodharma" to mean “Non Violence is the supreme religion”. This was well embraced by Ashoka the Great, we all know the story of Kalinga war. With the advent of Buddhism things started changing slowly, especially during Mauryan period Ashoka prohibited animal sacrifices and made laws which ensured through his rock inscriptions and got it installed in different places of his kingdom.

But I should mention there are instances in history which shows that Buddha was also a meat eater who ate pork and beef. It’s obvious before he became a Monk he lived a life as that of any one. History says one of the reasons for Buddha becoming a monk is the inhuman practices of sacrificial ceremonies; he took severe stand against it. He was a wandering Monk so he had to eat what ever was offered. But after some point he ordered that no monk should eat meat. [Read more details in the detailed link mentioned at the last].

Earliest Indication of this prohibition is seen in the Mahayanist remodeling of the Mahaparinibbatasutta in its Sanskrit version the Buddha is stated to have said “ I order disciples from today that they cannot any more part take of meat”

Reasons for the Rise of new Religions like Buddhism and Jainism

-) Upanishads questioned the vedic rituals and practices. Upanishads gave rise to new religions by claiming Jnana marga as the best marga.[1]

-) Many theories and philosophies were formed pertaining to soul and its binding with birth and death.

-) Vivekananda calls birth of Buddhism as a kshatriya revolt against the Aryan-brahmin supremacy and atrocity. Similar argument is documented by Many Historians who quote “primarily people were frustrated with animal sacrifice and yagas were becoming costly”. [p 122, Bharatada itihasa ]

Food consumed In the Eyes of Kautilya’s Artha Shastra

We all know the famous Chanakya, Master mind behind he mauryan empire, his Artha shastra reflects the Mauryan conditions which says like this “Arthashastra accepts meat eating as quite normal and lays down for the management of slaughter houses and the maintenance of purity of meat. It was only with the rise of Mahayana Buddhist sect, vegetarianism spread across the respectable people”.

Medical texts even of late period, go far as to recommend the use of both meat and alcohol in moderation and do not forbid eating of beef. [P 215, The Wonder that was India].Arthashastra advises the manufacture of liquor in government controlled breweries and gives several brief and cryptic recepies. Medaka [Rice beer], Prasanna [spiced beer], Apple wine [asava], Maireya [Raw sugar beer].

Decline of Buddhism

Buddhism left India with a positive note, let’s read what Fa-hein has to say

When Fa-hein visited India in the early 5th century AD he reported that no respectable person ate meat, the consumption of which was confined to lower castes. Although many historians feel that Fa-hein is exaggerating the but from him we can conclude that reign of Ashoka is a Land Mark in the development of vegetarianism.

Historian Haraprasad Shastri says one of the chief reasons for the downfall of Mauryans is Ashokan inscriptions, which prohibited animal sacrifice and had to face the wrath of Brahmins.

Another historian RS Sharma says because Ashoka prohibited beast like rituals and ceremonies, Brahmins got frustrated as their income reduced.

By 5th century AD, the Buddhism declined because of following reasons

a) Attack from Hoons/ Huns and in 10th century by Turks

b) Mahayana sect of Buddhism incorporated almost all vedic rituals.

c) Buddhist monks started living a luxury life and forgot prime duties.

d) Shankaracharya of 7th century AD gave a new life to vedic religion hence gave a death blow to the already dying buddhism.

Please click on the below hyperlinks, C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 talk about Vedic citations, C7-C15 talk about post vedic citations. We find animal sacrifice and goat slain mentioned in the vachanas of Basavanna a great spiritual and social revolutionary who revolts against the social injustices that existed in his period and hence he abandons the Brahmin caste in which he was born and becomes a universal man.

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

Next chapter-> Chapter 3 [ click here ]

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PS: [ 1]

[ Some ritualistic Hindus contest this and try to establish link between Rig Veda and Upanishads. But any sound person who reads Upanishad shlokas will understand it. Except couple of modern not so famous interpreters like kapalashastri and R L kashyap try to create a link citing 3 mantras in chandogya Upanishad which talk about Fire and Madhu vidya. This has not much significance, as they are highly irrational. Rig-Veda is a outward form of seeking knowledge, where as Upanishads are the inward form of seeking knowledge, so we find “Thou art that” in the Upanishads and not in Rig-Veda, with couple of random citations they cannot prove and wind back the time, composition of Rig veda and Upanishads were in different time, even noble laureate Tagore interpret and say initially man seeked external perfection (dravya yajna) only later he seek’d internal perfection (jnana yajna).]

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

Food – Drink – Kitchen-1

Food – Drink – Kitchen - Rise and Fall of kingdoms-I

History says food has played an important role in shaping society and its people. One would be surprised if they come to know food played its role in rise and fall of kingdoms.

In this article one finds that Ancient India and early Hindus did not believe completely in Ahimsa [C1 C2 ]there were frequent animal sacrifices [Manushastra, Sacrifice] to please and bring the Gods down, then with the rise of Buddhism we see that Ahimsa philosophy [Ahimsa paramodharma] reached its peak both in mind and in action. So in 3rd BC century one witness an exact picture of India, because of foreign travelers and Rock inscriptions of Ashoka the great [5th Pillar Inscription] , also history becomes clear and experts come to a consensus... Decline of Buddhism is followed by rise of Acharyas who interpret vedas, shastras and define set of rules in the course of revival of Hinduism. These were blindly followed and 99% blind faith still exists in India. Satvika ahara [Satvika ahara a Myth] was misinterpreted which made the Religion enter kitchen and people were busy thinking what to eat, what is pure and forgot the wonder interpretation by Shankara [Ahara Shuddi : Shankara]. Let’s see through the eyes of history and philosophers of various times

Food and Drink in Ancient India

Rig-Veda is the earliest and primitive document available to us .It is a collection of hymns for use at the sacrifices of the Aryan cult. Some of its verses are still recited as Hindu prayers, at religious functions and other occasions, putting these among the world's oldest religious texts in continued use. Some people prefer to call it Aristocratic Aryan cult. When we try to infer food habits from this we find that they were much addicted to inebriating drinks, of which at least two Soma and sura. Soma was drunk at sacrifices [Sacrifice].

During the Vedic period we shall understand that eating beef was a common practice when we read this below passage from Vivekananda’s complete works.

There was a time in this very India when, without eating beef, no Brahmin could remain a Brahmin; you read in the Vedas how, when a Sannyasin, a king, or a great man came into a house, the best bullock was killed; how in time it was found that as we were an agricultural race, killing the best bulls meant annihilation of the race. Therefore the practice was stopped, and a voice was raised against the killing of cows [ 1 ]

Considering Genius work of Ambedkar who studied history, Hindu scriptures in original, Buddhist scriptures in detail gives a scientific explanation of how Brahmins of Ancient India transformed themselves from Meat eaters to being strict vegetarians we can understand history better. Baba saheb Ambedkar has done an exlusive analysis of the same and speaks how and under what circumstances Ancient Brahmins turned from Beef eaters to vegetarians [Exclusive citations by Ambedkar ]

An interesting thing that comes to light is that early Vedic Aryans forgot the actual meaning of what the words like “Gau” “Mesha” “Ashwa” suggested in vedas, unfortunately they started performing rituals blindly. [Yaska Aurobindo on Rig-Veda ]

Rig-Veda can be misinterpreted easily; symbolic interpretation allows the scholars to assign a hundred different meanings to the same word in different contexts depending on the exigencies of the verse and the whims of the translator. [ similes and metaphor ]

Yaska says: Nirukta of yaska, dating from 5th BC shows that, a very early period of the Brahman's had forgotten true meaning of many obsolete words. This is the reason why rituals gained intensity and the core of the religion was forgotten even after the Upanishads declared Jnana marga is the best. [Rise of new Religions]

Also Aurobindo resounds Yaska

Rig-Veda is the one considerable document that remains to us from early period of human thought. When the spiritual and psychological knowledge of the race was concealed, the symbols protected the same from the profane, and revealed it to the initiated.

Reading this Some orthodox ritualistic Hindus get excited and say Vivekananda is wrong, they curse him with all bad words on earth which shows their Aristocratic Aryan roots, they further say he did not understand Vedas as he was not a Brahmin by birth. [Check this link which details why Vivekananda was not wrong Was Vivekananda wrong ]

FUTILE ARGUMENT BY Certain Hidus:

Read Futile Argument which talks about logical arguments of Buddha [Pali Text], history, Vivekananda [C1 C2 ] , Basavanna , especially we cannot ignore Asokan rock edicts [5th Pillar Inscription ] rather than the hypothetical metaphorical argument of certain sectional interests who argue in vain to safeguard their personal pride.

Read Part2

Food – Drink – Kitchen - Rise and Fall of kingdoms-II

Detailed Citations about Food and drink in Vedic, period, post Vedic period, http://horahaaku.blogspot.com/2011/08/food-drink-kitchen-rise-and-fall-of.html

Bibliography

[ 1 ].

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_3/Lectures_from_Colombo_to_Almora/Reply_to_the_Address_of_Welcome_at_Madura

References

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