Effect of Food on Spiritual Energy

How does food affect my spiritual energy if I were to eat meat?

It’s a good idea not to eat meat. If you find it very difficult, carry on until you are able to give it up. There are many ways of living without killing animals. Well, don’t tell me that we also kill plants, because plants don’t have a developed brain and nervous system to register pain as much as animals do.

So, only when you are fully convinced do you need to work on that. However, if you are doing a yogic practice like Kriya or some other Hatha yoga practice, it generates what, in Ayurvedic and yogic terms, is called internal body heat. And all food that is not vegetarian has more of this heat element in it.

Therefore, for a practitioner of yoga, it’s better to keep away from it. That’s not the ethical side; I am talking about the practical side of it. However, there have been great yogis who might have eaten meat at some point, but we are not those great yogis. So, it’s better to be humble and say, “Okay, I am just a beginner. I can’t imitate them.”

A Sufi Story

There was a great teacher who was once walking somewhere with a few of his disciples when he came in front of a tavern. The owner of the tavern came out and thought, There is no chance for this great man to come to my little tavern.

The master, who could read his mind, looked up at him and said, “Why are you not inviting me to your place?”

He said, “Master, please come.”

So, he went in, and four or five of his disciples followed him. They all sat down, and the master said, “Do you have anything to offer me?”

The man said, “Well, there is nothing here to offer except water. But what I would really want to offer you, you won’t have.”

He said, “What is that?”

He said, “I have the best-quality wine that has come to me from France.”

So, the master said, “Okay, pour it into the glass.”

So, he poured it into the glass, and the master took the wine and drank it.

Now, the disciples thought, Well, the master is drinking wine. What about us?

So, they were sitting a little away. They all pulled out their glasses and said, “Okay.”

The master had one glass of wine, and the disciples had six each. And then the time came to go out. The master walked out as steadily as he had come in, and the disciples followed him like snakes because they couldn’t walk straight.

In Malayalam, we have an expression, Adiche Pambai, so we came like a snake.

The teacher didn’t say a word. They just went.

And then they came in front of a foundry.

You know what a foundry is? It’s where metal is melted and made into different forms. So, here was a foundry where they were melting lead to make little bullets, shots which are used in guns.

The master was outside, and the foundry owner was outside, wondering whether the master would step into his place.

So, the master looked at him and said, “Why are you not inviting me?”

He said, “Please come.”

So, he took him inside. They all sat down, and the master said to him, “What have you got to offer me?”

He said, “I have nothing except melted lead.”

He said, “Give it to me.”

So, he poured some melted lead into the crucible, and the master drank it.

And he told his disciples, “Whoever wants can try this now.”

You have to be careful.

• Sri M