Enough and more has been talked about food from a perspective of calories, nutrient groups, diet, fads, eating right, weight-loss etc. For a long time, I had been looking at a plate of food as something that I should exercise control over. Food was no longer food, but a source of weight gain. It was a battle between the tongue and tummy. It was a constant and exhausting exertion of the will, which often resulted in guilt – because, we all have only a limited supply of will power.
However, things have recently taken an interesting turn. The perspective on food has shifted quite a bit. Now, when i sit down to eat, these are the thoughts that I chew on.
i. The journey of the food:
As I look at the food that is on my plate -the grains of rice, the pieces of vegetables… I marvel at the journey that each morsel has undertaken to reach my plate. The seeds being planted, tended for, the earth giving all her nourishment to the seeds and making them sprout, the effort that the tiny seed puts in to break out of the surface of the earth, the plant growing and thriving, protected from elements, flowering, blooming and giving forth its fruits…
The harvest, storage, transport, packing… buying from the shop and lovingly cooked – served hot on my plate. The collective effort of so many fellow humans, the bounty of the earth -resting as my meal. What a fascinating journey!
ii. On life and death:
To nourish this body, so many plants have given their life. The entire eco-system -from the microbes to earth worms to insects to birds to animals to humans -so many life forms have participated in getting the food ready. This food has reached my plate.. also because it has been denied to other insects, birds and animals -the pests. This food, that sustains my life, has been the cause of death of other lives in the endless cycle of nature
iii. On nourishment:
This physical body has grown from a tiny single cell embryo because of the nourishment it has received constantly. In a way, this physical body is the culmination of all the food that has gone in so far. Till the day this body drops, it will be propped up by food. My mind functions according to the food I eat. Dull when I overeat or eat heavy food, sharp and agile when I eat fresh food, satiated and content when the hunger is appeased, happy when I eat tasty food… I am, in a way, an expression of what I eat -physically and mentally!
iv. On the Supreme:
The more we reflect, the more apparent it becomes that every name and form around us, including ourselves, is the expression of that Supreme One. What makes the seeds sprout? What makes the earth nourish? What causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine?
Within us, what is that power that digests the food and transforms it into blood, bones, tissues, muscles…? What segregates the food into nutrients and waste products and also causes its elimination? And when the stomach is hungry, what signals the hunger and what perceives it? What is this fascinating power that helps us perceive the food through sight, smell, touch and taste?
As this line of thoughts deepen, where does this body begin and where does it end? Isn’t this ‘me’ a sum total of all that has nourished and sustained it…an extension of earth herself…an expression of the Supreme Self?
That Supreme alone is the food, the nourishment, the one who eats, the one who enjoys the food, the one getting nourished by it and also one who again goes back to earth and becomes food.
brahmarpanam brahma havir
brahmagnau brahmana hutam
brahmaiva tena gantavyam
brahma-karma-samadhina
As these reflections take hold within us, the very act of eating itself becomes a yoga -creating a union of us with all other life forms. It becomes an experience of immense gratitude, infinite wonder and limitless peace.
Om!
Lovely