Philosophy

Selection of a few writings from Sri Chinmoy on food which illustrate the importance that he gives to it.

What is meant by Food is God?
Sri Chinmoy: Food is life and life is God. Again, God is life. Food gives us new life; it energises us. Anything that energises us is life-the stream of life-and life is God.

How can we always feel that food is God?
Sri Chinmoy: When you pray and meditate, you are bound to feel that you are devouring God's Peace, Love and Light. Again, when you are eating material food, if you feel that this food is keeping you alive and in good health, which enables you to pray and meditate, then naturally you can keep both food and God in mind. When you pray, you feel that God is coming to you in the form of Peace, Light and Bliss, which is your real food. Again, while you are eating material food, you feel that God in the form of this food is keeping you alive. At that time, food really helps you to think of your Beloved Supreme. Therefore, both food and God can easily be seen as one.

What is the most important aspect of cooking?
Sri Chinmoy: The most important aspect of cooking is its life-energising reality.

Does Indian food embody a higher consciousness than other styles? If so, why?
Sri Chinmoy: Indian food does not necessarily embody a higher consciousness than other types of food. The consciousness of food depends mostly on the consciousness of the cook. It is true that food itself has its own consciousness, but since the cook is a human being, he has a more evolved consciousness than the food. So the cook can transform the consciousness of the food if it is necessary and if he wants to do so. He can add to the consciousness of the food or he can even bring the consciousness of the food into his own consciousness for enlightenment.

How are nutrition and consciousness interrelated?
Sri Chinmoy: Consciousness has nutrition itself; again, nutrition has consciousness itself. But consciousness has infinitely more power to add to nutrition than nutrition has to add to consciousness. Consciousness can invoke cosmic energy, but nutrition as such cannot invoke cosmic energy to add to consciousness.

Do you feel that onions and garlic are tamasic or harmful to the health?
Sri Chinmoy: Onions and garlic are far from tamasic. They are rajasic; they are dynamic. Both onions and garlic, when taken in small quantity, are good. Onions help considerably in forming blood, and also they help in curing eye defects. Garlic is good for curing rheumatism. But again, everything has to be taken in moderation. If we take onions and garlic beyond proportion, then naturally it will tell upon our health.

Is there a special consciousness in which to cook for adults, children or other age groups?
Sri Chinmoy: While you are cooking for children, if you can maintain an innocent feeling along with your purity, then it will be of great help to the food-consciousness. While cooking for adults, if you can maintain a very dynamic quality, then it will be of great help to the food-consciousness for adults. And while cooking for the aged, you can try to maintain a very soft and tender feeling. You can try also to have a feeling that you are helping the old people to gain a new life. But especially a tender feeling and a concerned feeling will be of tremendous help if you cook for the aged.

Why should we meditate on our food before eating it?
Sri Chinmoy: Before doing anything it is advisable for a spiritual person to meditate, to think of the Inner Pilot, the Supreme. The Supreme comes before everything we do, He is in the middle of everything we do, and He is at the end of everything we do. If we meditate before we eat, then His Compassion descends on us, and His Compassion is nothing short of energising power. So, along with the material food, if we can receive energising power, then naturally we will get double benefit from the food.

Why are eggs acceptable to some vegetarians and not others?
Sri Chinmoy: Again, it depends on the individual. If one is fussy and says that eggs come from an animal, then naturally he will try to shun the animal consciousness in eggs. The egg comes from the chicken and the chicken comes from the egg, so the story repeats itself; it is all animal consciousness from that point of view. But if one wants to separate the consciousness, saying that in eggs one doesn't see the immediate presence of the animal consciousness, then one can take eggs. It entirely depends on how the individual regards eggs and the creatures that produce eggs. Everything is in the mind. The mind tells us that something is harmful or that something is not harmful. Sometimes there is great truth in what the mind says, for there are things that can be really harmful. Again, there are some things which the mind rejects that are not at all harmful.

Is it significant whether food is raw or cooked?
Sri Chinmoy: It entirely depends on the taste of the individual. Raw food has a more energising quality than cooked food, but for the sake of taste we cook many foods. We can't deny it; cooked food is more tasty than raw food.

How is it that some advanced people do not have to eat at all?
Sri Chinmoy: If people are advanced in age, they don't have to give out as much energy as they did during their youth. At that time, they did much more on the physical plane. Naturally, when one has to offer more on the physical plane, the physical itself needs more sustenance. But when people become old, from the physical point of view they do not offer much to the world at large. Therefore, they do not have to eat much.

People who are spiritually advanced don't have to eat much if they don't want to. If they want to live on earth with very little food, then the Peace that they bring down from above will help them considerably. Their inner food can easily sustain them even if they eat very little material food. They can maintain themselves in this way if they want to. But if they want to remain on earth in a normal, natural way, eating material food, then they will take help from material food. It entirely depends on the individual choice.

How does the cleanliness of the surroundings affect the food you cook?
Sri Chinmoy: The cleanliness of the surroundings does not immediately or directly affect the food. First it affects the consciousness of the cook. When the cook is affected, then naturally his product will be affected. Cleanliness is of paramount importance, purity is of paramount importance and good feelings towards the pots and pans are of paramount importance. Everything is of paramount importance from the beginning to the end when you cook. Again, while cooking it is always advisable to speak as little as possible so that you can remain in your own highest consciousness. Otherwise, your consciousness may remain high, but the person with whom you are talking may be in a very low consciousness and then your food will be affected. So, you should always try to remain in a high consciousness and, for that, silence will be a considerable help. It will also be of considerable help if you can be in a meditative consciousness. Otherwise, outwardly you may remain silent, but inwardly your mind will be thinking of the entire world. That kind of so-called silence does not make any sense. But to remain both inwardly and outwardly silent will help you to enter into a higher realm of consciousness.