Message from the Gospel – 8. Discrimination about Food

After presenting some lofty ideals of Sri Ramakrishna, I decided to present some lighter ideas before getting back to heavy subjects again. One such being the choice of food. Some people are extremely fussy about food. I have seen people saying, “I can eat only that and that. I can’t eat this.” Or, “If I eat this, this will happen. If I eat that, something else will happen!” I have also seen another type of people who eat peacefully whatever is given to them. I believe I belong to this second category and never complain about food. So, I used to wonder why people make so much fuss about food. Although I said “I never complain about food”, I must add to that “most of the time”. This is because, I am 100% vegetarian, no eggs even. So, here my discrimination starts! Now, compared to people who may eat eggs and non-veg, I am fussy isn’t it? I used to think, “The more fuss you make about food (or about anything else) the more miserable is your life” but only until I read Sri Ramakrishna’s message in the Gospel regarding food.

There is a discussion about this topic in the Gospel, which will help us understand all about food choices.

MASTER (to Vijay and the other devotees): "A man brought a bottle of consecrated wine for me; but I couldn't even touch it."

VIJAY: "Ah!"

MASTER: "I become intoxicated at the mere thought of God. I don't have to take any wine. I feel drunk at the very sight of the charanamrita. I feel as if I had drunk five bottles of liquor. When a person attains such a state he cannot help discriminating about food."

NARENDRA: "As regards food, one should take whatever comes."

MASTER: "What you say applies only to a particular state of the aspirant's mind. No food can harm a Jnāni.

According to the Gitā, the Jnāni himself does not eat; his eating is an offering to the Kundalini. But that does not apply to a bhakta. The present state of my mind is such that I cannot eat any food unless it is first offered to God by a brahmin priest. Formerly my state of mind was such that I would enjoy inhaling the smell of burning corpses, carried by the wind from the other side of the Ganges. It tasted very sweet to me. But nowadays I cannot eat food touched by anybody and everybody. No, I cannot. But once in a while I do. One day I was taken to see a performance of a play at Keshab's house. They gave me luchi and curries to eat. I didn't know whether the food was handed to me by a washerman or a barber; but I ate quite a little (all laugh).  Rākhāl  had asked me to eat."

(To Narendra) "With you it is all right. You are in 'this' as well as in 'that'. You can eat everything now. (To the devotees) Blessed is he who feels longing for God, though he eats pork. But shame on him whose mind dwells on 'woman and gold', though he eats the purest food – boiled vegetables, rice, and ghee."

Even though, in the above discussion, Narendra (later Swami Vivekananda) said, “One should take whatever comes”, later in his life, he also went through a stage when he felt highly repulsive about certain foods and also about food cooked by certain people.

On another occasion, Narendra told Sri Ramakrishna, referring to Bhavanath (a young devotee), "He has given up fish and betel-leaf."

MASTER: "Why so? What is the matter with fish and betel-leaf? They aren't harmful.  The renunciation of 'woman and gold' is the true renunciation.

The message from the above discussion is that ‘eating’ and ‘not eating’ are just different stages of evolution of life and we may simply accept them without getting unduly concerned about either. Giving up eating some food may imply some amount of self-control but in no way implies true renunciation. As Sri Ramakrishna emphasizes, renunciation of 'woman and gold' is the true renunciation.