"Be happy to eat in Constant Divine thought
Whatever you get, with due regard to
honest and pious earnings."

The Eastern thinkers have taken special regard of the question of food. It should be cooked neatly and cleanly in a proper manner. That is the hygienic point. But if it is sattvik and is cooked in constant remembrance of God, its effect will be surprising. And if it is taken meditating all the while on God it will cure all kinds of spiritual diseases and remove things which hinder our progress.

But neglecting altogether the really essential hygienic and spiritual basis of food, we must not be whimsical, thinking that it is defiled if merely touched by one other than of a particular sect, even though he be more innocent, pious and spiritually elevated. Hindus have experienced sufficiently and ought now to realise that the present day policy of food is neither social nor spiritual.

Our custom has cut life into pieces, and we have transferred it to our brain, that unless we can have a guest for whom we can have the table made and the cutlery laid and good food prepared, we won't even invite him to eat. Therefore our invitations have become too artificial. We don't feed a man when he wants food, we invite him when we are ready to invite.

When we go to simple people, simple houses, poor people, you enjoy the food much more. They have no table to think about, they have no cutlery, they have no tablecloth, and therefore they think of the food. And even if it is only one carrot and half a tomato and two potatoes, they cut up what they have, put it into a pot, do something with it, all the time thinking of the guest who is coming. The food tastes delicious.

IT SHOULD BE NEED BASED:
In Master's own household one can see his principles being applied exactly. It is an instruction in itself to observe how Master is the living example of his own teaching. The accommodation provided for visitors is of the simplest, while being comfortable. Luxury is not provided. Similarly, the food offered to visitors is wholesome and nourishing but of the simplest variety. There is no ostentation, no impressive variety, and no pandering to taste.

I have found that this is akin to Nature's way of service. Such food helps us to get what we need from it, nourishment, and prevents greediness and overindulgence. Taste, artificially created taste, only creates greed and leads to unnatural living. Simple food helps us to live as Nature intended us to live, eating what the body needs for its healthy existence and no more. This is a very valuable lesson which Master teaches us by direct example. So we must eat enough to keep the body fit to take us through life. Food is not for taste, it is only for nourishment.

What relates to the body applies to the body. We eat when we are hungry. We drink when we are thirsty; what is wrong with it? Do not over do it, let it be spontaneous. Suppose you see some halwa (sweet) in a shop and you feel like eating it and you eat it. That is as wrong as any other way of enjoyment; you are not eating because you are hungry; you are eating because you feel like eating. So the fulfillment of the needs of the physical existence are quite Dharmic.

Eating must give us spiritual benefit. But we divide life into spiritual and material and compartmentalize it. It's our fault. For instance, before we eat we are supposed to, just for a moment, offer it to the Master and eat. Then when you eat in constant remembrance, it becomes very good for us.

I asked my Master once, "What is it that brings taste to food?" Because when we ate in his house, the food was simple, absolutely simple. Wheat rotis just cooked on fire, some lentils boiled in water with a little salt, and an apology for vegetables, one tiny bit of potato in some broth. I mean, if any of you had really known what you were eating, no minerals, no salts, no vitamins, no nothing and yet, it was divine. It was so divine that we wished to, or longed to, be there eating that food perpetually. The same thing, day after day, morning and evening! Yet we never felt that we were eating the same thing. It was almost tasteless, yet we were delighted. Why? Because it came from a divine source.

Food handled by the proper person, given to us by his loving hands, becomes something Divine, which contributes to our Divinisation, Divine growth. And, at the lowest level it is a bestial injection.

WHAT IS PRASAD?
In all relationships we can seek either at the lowest level or at the highest level. That depends on us. For instance, when we have food we can eat merely for animal satisfaction, for taste, or we can eat in such a way that it becomes a spiritual thing, contributing not only to our physical satisfaction, physical growth, but also to our spiritual growth. This is the idea incidentally of "Prasad".

A prasad is always sweet, but all sweets are not prasad; precisely because the Divine essence is infused by one who is capable of doing it, into that sweet. It is offered with love and devotion to the Almighty, His presence is invoked into it, it becomes Divinised; therefore it becomes a prasad.

A prasad is not to be eaten in kilos; not even in ounces; it should be taken in such a small quantity, that it is not thrown out of the system at all; because it is a Divine thing. It has been Divinised. So what goes in should not come out. Therefore it is said Anumathra.

The Gita says that prasad, taken with devotion, removes all diseases, misery, from the system. Not because it was cooked well, or from a Chinese recipe book, but because it was offered to the Lord with devotion and love by the devotee, and in accepting it He blesses it. When He blesses it, His spirit flows into it, therefore it becomes prasad. It may be chocolates, it may be biscuits, it may be anything.

Prasad is a very potent thing. And it should be taken with great respect, with great humility, with great devotion as something Divine offered to us by the Divine. Otherwise it is frivolous. The second thing about prasad is that, not every thing becomes prasad. Few people know how to offer prasad.

We are advised by the Master, when we sit down to eat, just to offer the food to the Master mentally and eat it. But prasad is different from offering the food to the Master and eating it ourselves you see. So, don't think every time somebody gives you something, it is prasad.

VEGETARIAN FOOD:
Vegetarian food is recommended because as we become subtler and subtler, the input should match that subtlety. Like 220 volts appliance must have a 220 volts input; 120 volts appliance, if you put a 220 volts power connection, it's going to just "Pachashsh!"

NON-VEGETARIAN FOOD:
It is not a question of good or bad, but what we take in must match our level of subtlety. It applies not only to food, but even to mental food like thoughts, what we read. So the whole principle is, like aviation spirit for planes, motor fuel for cars, kerosene oil for stoves at home, the source is the same. They are all petroleum products. But depending on the fineness of the organism, the input has to match that, therefore meat eating is not recommended.

Meat-eating is forbidden because it is a grosser food, which will not match your subtler levels of spiritual existence; therefore you cannot take it. Not because it is against the principles of Ahimsa (nonviolence). Therefore, though Hinduism forbids meat eating and Sahaj Marg also does not recommend meat eating, they are for two different reasons. Hinduism - because we should not kill, and there it falls into the pitfalls of the many arguments and discussions - "Are we not killing the plant? Are we not killing the very air that we breathe, that contains millions of microbes?" Religion has no answer.

Sahaj Marg has an answer. It says those are things which Nature destined you would eat. We have to exist. So you have to eat - if you have to eat - plant life, because it is the lowest creation of Nature. If you have to breathe air which contains microbes - well, if you can design a filter which will eliminate it, do it, but otherwise you have to continue to breathe. But this which you can avoid, you should avoid - meat eating, eggs - even eggs you see.

ALCOHOL:
Alcohol interferes with the Divine intoxication that is produced by transmission. This is very subtle. Alcohol is very gross. Therefore it is forbidden. If somebody comes drunk we can certainly ask them to go home and sleep. Abhyasis are not supposed to drink - in Sahaj Marg it is forbidden.

MAINTAIN SUBTLETY IN FOOD AND THOUGHT:
As we become subtler and subtler, what we take in should match our inner subtlety. Like you feed a child with milk. When he is able to masticate, you give him some soft pappy food. When he has got good developed teeth, you give him solid food. When he is strong and grown up, well he can eat anything he likes. That is a physical example. But now, if you are a philosopher, you don't read crime and sex novels. You read about your particular discipline. You stick to your level of achievement and match input to your inner needs so that there are no contra currents being induced.

So, as we develop, our inputs have to match our existing level of subtlety - in thoughts, in words, and deeds. Our thoughts must be so subtle - we should not hear nonsense; we should not read nonsense; we should not see nonsensical things. So you see, there is the need for total awareness - "What am I thinking now? Is it right? Is it good for me? Am I thinking a thought, which would perhaps convert my high spiritual state to a lower one, by transforming me into another gross level? Let me beware of this."

NOW WE CAN LIVE WITHOUT FOOD:
It is a well known fact, that when Babuji has said that there are points in the body which can generate even oxygen from inside, and you don't need to breathe at a certain point, protein is hardly a competitive element. Oxygen itself can be generated inside - the life giving gas. What is the problem about protein or carbohydrates?

And the next point is, as you go higher and higher, you are going to eat less and less. At one point the body seems to exist independent of all these scientifically prescribed requirements of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, fats. The body seems to be able to live in an independent way, precisely because now the spirit is controlling its activities, not the elemental forces of nature. And we are trying to govern our life and guide it in that direction.

"Eat less and earn an honest living.
Without taking honestly earned food,
spiritual experiences often go wrong."