Ritual of Eating 1 1
Ritualization
1. According to the ancients, the carrot you crush for juice and the cabbage you chop to cook both
feel pain and terror at being slaughtered and dismembered, just as any animal would.
2. Any substance can act as food, medicine or poison for Ahamkara.
Food is that which nourishes the body, mind and spirit.
Medicine improves the digestion to enhance nourishment.
Poison impedes digestion and disturbs nutrition.
3. Food is anything that you can dominate;
medicine is anything which assists you in your domination
poison is anything which challenges this domination.
4. Some neurotics use food to provide them a sense of accomplishment, a macho sense of having
successfully dominated, destroyed and assimilated another being.
If in the outside world they are powerless, at the mercy of stronger beings who force them
to act against their will, they are still the lords and masters of their private inner worlds and of all
food-beings which enter therein.
Ritualization of eating helps limit this "bullying" aspect of the personality by automatically
abasing the self-congratulating personality in the presence of the Infinite.
5. Each food article you eat alters your mental disposition. You are naturally attracted to those
foods which create within you the state of mind which you desire, and naturally repulsed by those
foods which produce opposing states of mind.
Some food, especially those derived from animal flesh, encourage your personality in its
bullying and make it want to consume and dominate more and more. Beef and pork are the worst
of all foods in this respect.
Other foods, including milk, grains, raw fruits, and vegetables, help to satisfy this unnatural
craving and make you more willing to submit to the will of the Supreme.
The Ritual of Eating
1. Begin with your morning routine, paying particular attention to your urine, feces, and tongue.
Urine: clear and beer-colored
Feces: light brown with the consistency of a ripe banana.
2. If
Urine: turbid with a foul odor,
Feces: full of undigested food, offensive in odor and passed with abundant gas then--
Ama is present
Any coating on your tongue also shows that there is Ama, toxins due to improperly digested food,
in your digestive tract.
3. When these signs of Ama, or other signs
nausea or heaviness of the limbs, appear, fast for the day or at least skip a meal.
Do not eat when you are not physically hungry.
when angry, depressed, bored, or otherwise emotionally unstable, or immediately after any
physical exertion.
4. Bathe, or at least wash your hands, face and feet, before you begin.
5. Sit while eating, in an isolated, clean, area.
Face east if possible, the direction of the sun, the Earth's source of heat and fire.
Eat alone, or with people you know and trust.
Ensure that all your sense organs are satisfied by providing your dining room with pleasant
music, fresh flowers, and the like.
6. It is best if your right nostril functions when you eat, since it increases your digestive fire.
Ritual of Eating 2 2
You can cause it to function by lying on your left side for a few minutes before the meal,
by plugging your left nostril, by closing your left nostril which the middle finger of your
right hand and
by breathing rhythmically through your right nostril for a few minutes.
or by hooking your left arm over the back of a chair.
7. Once all is in readiness, pray.
Approach each food item with reverence and love.
8. Give some food away in charity.
9. Immediately before beginning to eat, chew some ginger to awaken your taste buds, start your
juices flowing, and purify your tongue and mouth.
P people should omit this step.
It is best to prepare the ginger by slicing it into long thin strips and marinating it in lemon juice
with an optional pinch of rock salt.
10. Concentrate on your meal.
Observe silence while you eat
11. Chew each morsel slowly and attentively many times.
12. When feasible eat with your hands so that your skin can send temperature and texture cues to
your brain.
13. Feed all five senses by eating food which is attractive to the eye, tasty, aromatic and pleasing in
texture and sound.
14. After eating drink a mixture of yogurt churned with water to assist digestion.
People with weak digestion should use non-fat yogurt and a 1:3 proportion of yogurt to
water
Those with stronger digestion may use normal yogurt in a proportion up to 3:1 yogurt to
water.
V people should add lemon juice and a pinch of salt, and spice the mixture with fresh diced
ginger or chilies, or whole or powdered cumin and coriander
P people should use coriander leaf or cardamom powder, with less lemon juice and some
sweetener like maple syrup or even sugar
K people should use honey with powdered ginger or black pepper, or other hot spices like
diced green chilies.
15. At the end of the meal gives thanks
clean your mouth,
apply water to your eyes to prevent weakening of vision because of increased Pitta at this
time.
urinate but do not encourage defecation
take a brief walk of 100 steps to promote digestion.
16. Avoid exercise within an hour of food
sleeping or studying within two hours
17. If you have overeaten, or if you are physically weak, lie for a few minutes without going to
sleep on your left side to insure that your right nostril is working well to keep your digestion hot.
18. Avoid eating too late at night.
Do not eat any Kapha-producing food like melons, yogurt, sesame products, cheese or ice
cream at night.
19. No one should allow less than two hours between any two meals or snacks because the gut
requires at least this much time to ready itself for the next food.
