Before Consuming food

Before Consuming food
(Before start eating, pray looking at the food)

Consuming food is considered as a Yajna karma (sacrifice to fire) in Bharatheeya Tradition. The chanting is taken from Bhgavad Gita. It says the food that I eat is called brahmarpanam (offering to brahma). Brahma is the Lord of Creativity and the food is to make us creative, thus the concept of yajna, the energy creation for betterment is equivalent to the food intake and the creative output of the human. Consider the food as the havis (the ingredients for the sacrifice).

brahmarpanam brahma havir brahmagnau brahmana hutam
brahmaiva tena gantavyam brahma karma samadhina

Looking at the food, stay for some time, praying with the above manthra. The saliva will first get into the stomach as one looks at the food. Then the water through the achaman. This must be followed with bit-by-bit three times the sample food into the mouth. This is to inform the stomach, that this is the food that is going to be consumed, get prepared. This process of eating will make the food eating more systematica dn helps for better health.

TIMINGS
Meditation should be done before sunrise in the “Brahm-Mahurt” i.e. between 3.30 and 6.00 A.M. and Yajna should be performed after sunrise. Evening Yajna should be performed before. It is clear that “Yajnas must be performed in sunlight. The science of power of the sunlight is mentioned earlier. It is the essential duty of man to do Meditation and perform Yajna daily. In the same queue, consuming food must be only during sunlight time – day. See the nature, all the animals stop eating as the sun sets off.

IMPORTANCE OF BRAHMARPANAM
The importance of sacrificial life in the material, psychological and spiritual aspect has been clearly elaborated. The Yajna (Sacrifice) is looked on generally as some actions limited to offerings made in the sacred fire. But Yajna is a very wide term that encompasses all good actions including prayers, associations, donations and the basic essentials of a systematical life. It is said that Yajna should be performed with the intention of attaining worldly pleasures. It is an important duty of all men of four Varnas i.e. Brahman, Kshatri, Vaishya and Shudra including schedule tribe living in remote areas, to perform Yajna Karma.

WASHING
Better to have food after taking bath. It makes one fresh and feels happy and enjoys the food. At least the leg, hand and the face must be cleaned before consuming food. It is found that the food will provide better energy once the leg, hand and face is wet and cool during the consumption of food.

SITTING POSTER AND DRESSCODE
Wear clean loose dress and convenient according to season. The sitting position of the Brahma or Purohit of Yajna is reserved in the South, facing the North. Facing to east or west is also welcomed but not to face south and sit. “ A comfortable sitting position is called Aasan”. Most comfortable poster of sitting is in crossed legs as this poster reduced body to its minimum space occupancy and the energy gets densified. The blood pumping strain reduced in the body and more concentration is in the activity being done, let it be praying, reading or eating. During each time to consume the food, one has to bend and that make the stomach to press naturally and that makes the food gets to flow in stomach comfortable.

AACHAMAN
It is an important act to take three sips of water called ‘Aachaman’ before the start of Yajna. It is advisable and allowed for Yajmaanas and Brahma of the Yajna to have ‘Aachaman’ (to take a few sips of water), if / whenever they feel thirsty or lazy during the process of Yajna-karma. Same way during the consumption of food, minimum intake of water must be permitted for better eating and digestion. Many have the basic question of water intake during the food consumption. It is good to have little quantity of food. Not too much of water to reduce the food intake.

FOOD QUANTITY & QUALITY
‘mitham bhuktwa’ eat little. More quantity of eating will not make one strong. It is the quality of the food that matters more. Eat fresh and clean vegetarian energy food. More leafy and with fiber content is good. Don’t eat fast food and more spicy.

‘ardhapoorathayeth annam thadhardham vaarinam thadha’ is the saying. It is to say that half stomach can be solid food. Half of the half, that is quarter, has to be filled with water. Thus the rest quarter must be free for the air.

Vegetarian food is the best as they have energy in it. The non-vegetarian food is not having any life energy, as they are dead bodies. The meat will contain more than fifty percentage blood in it. The animal could have any disease and the meat will carry all the toxins it has in it. The animal while getting killed have the misery, agony, tension, worry, anger, distress etc. and all that feeling generates hundreds of chemical changes in the blood and that is carried to the consumer. Given an option better to be a vegetarian. Look at the higher grade of veganism for further reading on food. Also could read the book on microbiotics (you are what you eat). Bhagavad Gita describes the character of the individual based on the food he likes and consumes, this indicate our traditional scientific knowledge of food and the relation to the character.

Animals eat only that much it requires. The best habit is to eat what one likes and as how much is required. Many people eat for satisfying someone else, because of compulsion, give company, time pass etc. All these are harming the self. Many times eating is due to taste and not due to the requirement. The tip of the tongue understands the taste. The whole food processing in the body is around moving thirty-six feet without understanding the taste. Care need to be taken on this long journey of the food than the tip of the tongue. Thus the food quality needs to be redefined as the best food that gives energy of creativity.

DIGESTION / DHAHANAM
Dhahanam (fring) that is what happens in the stomach. The agni (fire) place is the stomach. When gets hungry, we get a fire in the stomach. This is the call for the food, called hungry. He stomach must get food. Like the fire in the Yajna require havis. That gets processed to make the energy.

Dalai Lama says ‘these are the days of fast food and slow digestion’. Don’t create long-term problems in life with bad habits of food. It is also important to flush out the waste instead of carrying and taxing the body. May people are not good in using toilets often, instead carry the dirt and move around. Body needs to be cleaned for being energetic.

Dr T P Sasikumar / 9911484007 / dr_tps@yahoo.com