Swami Shivapadananda on diet, meat and vegetarianism

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

Day 514

The (rebuilt) Cossipore Garden House where Sri Ramakrishna lived for eight months. He left his body [entered mahasamadhi] in the first floor room, now a shrine.)

   

As followers of Sri Ramakrishna we do not interfere with other people's personal business. If you want to eat what you like, then you can. We will not tell you, 'Don't eat it.'

Devotee: What will happen if we eat just a little bit of egg or flesh?

Swamiji: My view is that if you steal a cent you are a rogue and if you steal a billion rand you are still a rogue. I do not worry what the punishment is - you are a rogue and you will suffer.

Devotee: Can I eat meat for medical reasons?

Swamiji: If I was really sick and wanted to make a speedy recovery I would eat meat solidly for a couple of weeks and then, when the protein builds up, I would leave it out and start eating some other protein.

Devotee: In the scriptures it is said that tamasic [low prana, sloth inducing] food is food that has been cooked the night before. Is there a certain number of hours that it takes to become stale?

Swamiji: It is said that it becomes stale after about six hours. But it is virtually impossible to do everything that is in the scriptures though we must try to the best of our ability. Generally speaking try to avoid tamasic food because you are a sadhaka [spiritual aspirant or practitioner].

Truly, our mothers and wives must learn to cook and feed us hot food. I am not referring here to hot as in pungent food. You must eat freshly cooked hot food not cold food. Do not take stale food and make it hot.

If you eat onions you will find that your mind becomes sleepy and dull, so that you cannot concentrate well and it will take you a longer time to reach the goal. If a person has heart trouble then I tell them to have onions. If you have nerve trouble: eat onions - it relaxes you. Do this instead of taking two Valium tablets which may further knock your nerves.

If you think you can eat things that do not keep the body free of disease, and think that you can get mind and sense control, you can never do it. You must eat food that will give you a healthy body, a disease-free body, and then you will be able to control your mind and senses. Eat the right kind of food but do not become too fanatical. You yourself can see what you need. It also depends on the kind of work you do.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time.

2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.

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