Food: Importance of eating the proper way

A rough translation of this Sanskrit word ಭಕ್ತಿ (bhakti) into English would be Devotion which means “Express total loyalty, a feeling of reverence and adoration….”

Sometime back, I read newspaper article about the effect of mental tension on the digestion of food. The article seems to suggest that the tensed mind has negative effects on the digestive system. The article claims that if you are tensed or too happy (The internal reaction of the body to both happiness and threat is similar), the enzymes necessary for the digestion are not released in the proper quantity. So, the food will not get digested and assimilated into the body.. The article suggests you eat your food in peaceful frame of mind, preferably silently. No distractions allowed, no listening to music, no TV!!!!


At dinner times, even at the slightest whisper, my parents used to say, “ಊಟವನ್ನು ಭಯ ಭಕ್ತಿಯಿಂದ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು. ಮತಾಡಿದರೆ ಅನ್ನಕ್ಕೆ ಅವಮಾನ ಮಾಡಿದ ಹಾಗೆ, ಮಾತಾಡದೆ ಊಟ ಮಾಡು”.When I used to gobble up food, they would suggest “ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ತಿನ್ನು, ಹೀಗೆ ತಿಂದ್ರೆ ಅನ್ನ ಮೈಗೆ ಹತ್ತೊಲ್ಲ”.
Almost of all us would have heard this, with some minor variations.

Back then, I used to wonder why we need to show devotion to our food or why we need to eat with a peaceful frame of mind. On reading this article, I realized that what my parents said was not what they made up, but repeating what they heard from their parents who inturn heard from their parents, the chain continues (sounds similar to how the Vedas were handed over from generation to generation). This sounds very strange believing hearsay. But if you look back, the origins or this hearsay lie in our scriptures, the immense ocean of knowlegde accumulated over the millenia.

Our scriptures describe “ಅನ್ನಮ್ ಪರಬ್ರಹ್ಮ ಸ್ವರೂಪಮ್”. Food is the manifestation of Brahma.
You have eat it with
i) utmost devotion,(bhakti)
ii) with a pure mind,
iii) in clean surroundings.

The food should be first offerred to the "ಇಷ್ಟ ದೈವ" and then partaken as ಪ್ರಸಾದ.

This ensured that all the above 3 conditions were satisfied.

So, what is the relation of the these 3 conditions with the article?

Well!!
1) Eat with utmost devotion : Focus on nothing but eating, no diversions
2) Eat with a pure mind : Eat with peaceful frame of mind
3) Eat in clean surroundings: This last condition implies cleanliness in all aspects, visual, aural,smell.

This ensures a peaceful environment to partake food.

Does it not sound similar to the newspaper article????

The main point I wish to put forth here is : There is a scientific background for what our scripture, our culture, our age old practices prescribe for us. Merely that someone called our traditions ಗೊಡ್ಡು ಸಂಪ್ರದಾಯ does not make it baseless.

Einstein is supposed to have commented " Science is too young to understand religion"

Is it too far stretched to suggest that we are too young to understand the truth in our culture???