From Gross to Subtle Food

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."