Any query......

[Sankaran Kartik Jayanarayanan]

On Thu, 16 May 2002, Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:

> On Thu, 16 May 2002, Somik Raha wrote:
>

[..]

> > Just as a disclaimer - I am not contesting the usefulness of sattvic
> > vegetarian. I am contesting the non-usefulness of sattvic non-vegetarian vs.
> > rajasic or tamasic vegetarian.
>
> Fine, I doubt if anyone would disagree with that.

I would. AFAIK, ALL meat is non-saattvic. "saattvic non-vegetarianism"
is an oxymoron.

There are, however, non-saattvic vegetarian foods. For example, garlic is
tamasic.

The following extracts are from "Teachings of Ramana Maharshi" by Arthur
Osborne. ("D" is for devotee and "B" is Bhagavan).

-------------
D: What diet is suitable for a person engaged in spiritual practice?
B: Sattvic food in moderate quantities.
D: What food is sattvic?
B: Bread, fruit, vegetables, milk and such things.
D: Some people in the North eat fish. Is that permissable?

[To this question Bhagavan did not reply. He was always reluctant to
criticize others and this question was inviting him either to do so or to
change what he had said.]

[..]

B: The quality of one's food influences the mind. The mind feeds on the
food consumed.
D: Really! But how can Europeans accommodate themselves to sattvic food?
B (Turning to Mr. Evans-Wentz): You have been taking our food. Does it
inconvenience you at all?
E.W.: No, because I am accustomed to it.
B: Custom is only an adjustment to environment. It is the mind that
matters. The fact is that the mind has been trained to find certain
foods good and palatable. The necessary food value is obtainable in
vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian food; only the mind desires the
sort of food that it is used to and considers palatable.
-------------

>  Recently in the
> newspapers here in New York there was a story about a couple who were
> vegans (avoided animal protein altogether) whose baby had developed
> rickets--a malady rare even in the thirld world now--due to their
> unhealthy and faddish diet.
>

Ramana Maharshi has said that good nutrition can be found just as well in
vegetarian food as in non-vegetarian food. Therefore, in the above
example, blame the parents for not doing the appropriate research into how
to take care of their child.

> But there isn't an either/or situation.  It is possible to avoid both meat
> and unhealthy vegetarian food.
>

Yes, it may be tough, but that's the way.

> > Why this is relevant today - outside India -
> > is because we dont get sattvic vegetarian in restaurants.
>

Then you should be living on raw fruits/vegetables, bread, milk and tofu.
I'm quite sure they're all be available in a good grocery store in Japan.
Find one.

[..]

> > And we dont have
> > time to cook. These are practical problems - and if the road to spirituality
> > cannot accomodate these, then you will be indicating the road to be very
> > narrow. That is contrary to my perception of Hinduism and spirituality.
> >
>

In the KaTha upanishhad, the way is said to be "as narrow as a razor's
edge."

[..]

> > Lastly, I am not sure if you are from South India - but if you are - then
> > you would surely know of the great devotee Kanappa.
>
> [...]
>
> I am not, but I have heard it on this list.  What is ok for a hunter is
> not necessarily ok for a Brahman and vice-versa.
>

Yes.

[..]

-Kartik