Food and what we take in

[saidevo]

namaste atanu.

Your description makes me feel like tasting that pAyasam and kichdi. Yes, my mother and maternal grandma too used to make elaborate prepartions on festive occasions and what a variety of bhakShaNam-s (snacks) they could prepare with an array of vyanjjana (condiments) using the recipes they had at their finger tips!

Preparation of the wheat halwa at home using the old-type wet stone grinders was a tedious task my mother used to undertake willingly every deepAvaLi. Raw wheat had to be soaked in water and ground on the stone, squeezing milk out of the pulp and then use that milk in the halwa preparation--used to take hours. When I was a boy I used to relish those halwa pieces and was angry with some elders when they wasted a piece or two served in the meal! My mA was also an expert in making soft mysore pak, a must for her deepAvaLi. She passed away seven years back and I miss all those dishes and snacks.

[atanu]

namaste atanu.

Your description makes me feel like tasting that pAyasam and kichdi. Yes, my mother and maternal grandma too used to make elaborate prepartions on festive occasions and what a variety of bhakShaNam-s (snacks) they could prepare with an array of vyanjjana (condiments) using the recipes they had at their finger tips!

Preparation of the wheat halwa at home using the old-type wet stone grinders was a tedious task my mother used to undertake willingly every deepAvaLi. Raw wheat had to be soaked in water and ground on the stone, squeezing milk out of the pulp and then use that milk in the halwa preparation--used to take hours. When I was a boy I used to relish those halwa pieces and was angry with some elders when they wasted a piece or two served in the meal! My mA was also an expert in making soft mysore pak, a must for her deepAvaLi. She passed away seven years back and I miss all those dishes and snacks.

namaste saidevoji,

God willing that may be poossible some day?

I have learned one thing from mothers -- the devotion and love in their day in day out back breaking work. When I compare, I find myself so much inferior in karma yoga. Most women nowadays, IMO, are not aware of the love transforming into nutrition and flavour in the food cooked for Gods - which the whole world, incuding the family, is.

Regards
,
Om Namah Shivaya

[kd gupta]

namaste atanu.

Your description makes me feel like tasting that pAyasam and kichdi. Yes, my mother and maternal grandma too used to make elaborate prepartions on festive occasions and what a variety of bhakShaNam-s (snacks) they could prepare with an array of vyanjjana (condiments) using the recipes they had at their finger tips!

Preparation of the wheat halwa at home using the old-type wet stone grinders was a tedious task my mother used to undertake willingly every deepAvaLi. Raw wheat had to be soaked in water and ground on the stone, squeezing milk out of the pulp and then use that milk in the halwa preparation--used to take hours. When I was a boy I used to relish those halwa pieces and was angry with some elders when they wasted a piece or two served in the meal! My mA was also an expert in making soft mysore pak, a must for her deepAvaLi. She passed away seven years back and I miss all those dishes and snacks.

Leave aside higher and lower , but mother's contribution is 8 times...
Bhoomiraapo�nalo vaayuh kham mano buddhireva cha;
Ahamkaara iteeyam me bhinnaa prakritirashtadhaa.
Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and egoism�thus is My Nature divided
eightfold.
Apareyamitastwanyaam prakritim viddhi me paraam;
Jeevabhootaam mahaabaaho yayedam dhaaryate jagat.
This is the inferior Prakriti, Omighty-armed (Arjuna)! Know thou as different from it My
higher Prakriti (Nature), the very life-element by which this world is upheld.

[atanu]

ECO LOGIC BY SUNITA NARAIN
Bitter truth: Biodiversity and the business of food


In this year of biodiversity,stop and think of how it touches our daily lives in fact our bodies and our self.We rarely make the connection between biodiversity of plants and animals,which we celebrate in the wild and our culture of food and lifestyles.But it is important to make the linkage as disappearance of biodiversity in the world affects our bodies.

Take honey.We never think about the golden product we buy off the shelf and consume from the jar with a label we trust,is linked to the biodiversity of bees in the world.We never consider how,as this biodiversity disappears and how Indian adapted bees (Apis cerana and Apis dorsata) are replaced by foreign,in this case European bees (Apis mellifera),the business of food changes.It changes because now,instead of the bee that is naturally found in our backyards,our forests and fields,we move towards bee cultivation.Then industry grows.It replaces the small informal bee producers,to build an organized business with reach across the country to outsource production and collection.The company that sells us the honey under its label,has little to do with its production.It buys from the organized business,bottles and sells.The business of food has changed to the business of profit.

The biodiversity of food is lost only one bee type now produces our honey and the biodiversity of business is lost.But nature has a way of getting back at us.As industry thrives in pumping up production by overworking the bees taking out immature honey so that bees have to make more and then feeding supplements and antibiotics for growth it finds that it is dealing with new diseases and new threats to its profits.This industrial agribusiness which our honey now belongs to needs more inputs of antibiotics to keep business going and bees healthy.

But this only means that our food our honey that we take with trust and belief in goodness and purity is full of contaminants of antibiotics as the Centre for Science and Environments laboratory found.All major brands including two big foreign brands had antibiotics far in excess of any standards in the world.This contaminant is bad for our bodies as it builds antibiotic resistance and even toxicity.The circle is complete: loss of biodiversity,loss of food culture and bad health and disease.

There are two ways ahead in this biodiversity-food-body connection.First,we need to build the science of food regulation,which is protective of our health.Current efforts at creating a food policeman in the shape of the Food Safety and Standards Authority have been disastrous.The Authority set up a few years ago,has been dead on entry.It does little to protect consumer interest in food,instead works to protect business interest over our food.This is even more deadly,when you consider how the business of food has changed and become more powerful and more global.Clearly,big business and weak regulators are bad for our bodies.

Second,we need to build the art of food again.This means understanding food as an outcome of living and lived biodiversity and culture.We cannot take all diversity out of our food and expect to have good health.It is clear we are losing the connection between what we eat and why and where and how it grows as we blindly and foolishly allow industry to take over the business of our kitchens.

Food is about the ultimate celebration of nature. Let us not lose it.


The author is director of Centre for
Science and Environment

[NayaSurya]

So true, we go to a local farm here which produces organic corn, pumpkins and other foods. There is nothing like fresh corn which you picked with your own hands...and tenderly wash...then prepare for your family. Or fresh pumpkin spice cookies I make filled with peanuts.

So many have forgotten that to serve your beloved husband and beloved children is to serve The Beloved.

These days I am fasting to the Mahalaya Amavasya and I prepare breakfast lunch and dinner each day of this time despite no food for myself. Each of these meals is so close to my heart. I want Beloved to have this food and know it comes without any motivation but bhakti.

Over the years I have come to love this time of pure service most of all. Soon we make the trip to the farm for a corn row maze and then bring home beautiful pumpkins and Autumn corn. Such a wonderful time to celebrate the bounty of our world.<3

[Onkara]

So true, we go to a local farm here which produces organic corn, pumpkins and other foods. There is nothing like fresh corn which you picked with your own hands...and tenderly wash...then prepare for your family. Or fresh pumpkin spice cookies I make filled with peanuts.

So many have forgotten that to serve your beloved husband and beloved children is to serve The Beloved.

These days I am fasting to the Mahalaya Amavasya and I prepare breakfast lunch and dinner each day of this time despite no food for myself. Each of these meals is so close to my heart. I want Beloved to have this food and know it comes without any motivation but bhakti.

Over the years I have come to love this time of pure service most of all. Soon we make the trip to the farm for a corn row maze and then bring home beautiful pumpkins and Autumn corn. Such a wonderful time to celebrate the bounty of our world.<3

Namaste NayaSuryaji
You make it sound so real I can almost smell the soil before you wash the vegetables.

It is true, it is a good time to celebrate the bounty of the world, I had not thought about it like that before. It is a reflection on change and a time for me to show gratitude for what I have, knowing that the change implies winter soon follows. This helps me to understand the place of Diwalli and Durga puja and why we might celebrate the change of autumn in association with Shakti, the eternal lover of The Beloved

Thanks for this

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namast&#233; snip (et.al)

This helps me to understand the place of Diwalli and Durga puja and why we might celebrate the change of autumn in association with Shakti, the eternal lover of The Beloved

If I may let me offer the following for one's kind consideration.

śaradiya navarātri will occur next month ~ the 8th to the 16th ~ of October ; śaradiya navarātri is the 9 nights of Mother Divine as durgā&#185;
■ śara + diya
śara - is rooted (√) in śrī 'to rend' or 'destroy'
diya - deserving of gifts which can also be deya
We can also look at it this way form a neuter POV - diyā́nām p&#225;ti lord of gifts
■ navarātri = n&#225;van or 9 (९) + rātri = night.

From a jyotish POV these 9 days ( nights) , are alive with this impluse of destroying and removing mis-fortunes. The first 8 days are 5 + 3 = the 5 senses + 3 , the intellect, mind, and ego. Now we have 8 + 1 = 9.

On the 9th day we have those qualities of turīya that are enlivened i.e more accessable. This 9th day enlivens all the other 8 values of mind, intellect, the senses.

Now is there more? Yes, there is 9 + 1 and we end up on the 10th night... the 10th tithi. And what is that? vijaya daśami .
■ Vijaya = victory , conquest , triumph and also a name for durgā +
■ daśa+mi = the 10th ( implying tyhr 10 tithi ) + mi = to meter out, or observe.

What do you believe are the 'impluses' we find in creation at this time of vijaya daśami ? Where is this victory? IMHO it is the self ( ego, likes, dislikes, small-small thinking) that can be infused with SELF. Behaviors that stand in the way of the SELF can be destroyed.



praṇām

words

√ durgā is durgatināśinī - the beauty of this name is found in durgati + nāśinī . Durgati = misfortune + naś = to drive away, extinguish. Hence durgā is She, durgatināśinī, that drives away ( remove, extringuish) mis-fortune

[saidevo]

namaste everyone.

It makes sad reading--the cutthroat corporate manufacturing and distribution of honey, killing the svadeshi and cottage entrepreneurship. Brand names have invaded our culture and life to define what we eat, drink and do, and in ignorance we presume that they serve us immaculately.

• Sighting a honeycomb on some trees is no longer a common sight, even in our villages. In India, thanks to Gandhiji, there is a KhAdi Board of handloom clothes and svadeshi--home-country products, where honey gathered from homegrown beehives and honeycombs in the mountain trees, are sold. It's time to switch over from brand names to KhAdi for honey, after reading the Sunita's article.

• Recently, a medical doctor gave a talk in a Tamil TV channel about how the popular big and lush bananas known as 'Bangalore RastAli' or 'Moris plantains' were part of experiments of genetically modified products that the US companies push to India for consumption and testing. He said that the cattle do not touch the peels of these bananas and that no worm or insect dares to infest this variety. What the cattle and worms don't consume, we consume, he explained. In the same way, the gloss-looking apples with stickers on them are quoted with wax to let them last longer.

• He added that even some vegetables that look lush and large are probably genetically modified ones, and advised that we need to buy only vegetables and fruits that are prone to worm bites. From the day we saw this program, we are promptly taking his advice and buying only the common Indian varities of fruits and vegetables that are prone to worm bites.

• A few years back, BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre), India was experimenting with production and marketing of banana juice and banana powder as a beverage and health drink. Seems it is still at the experimental level, although here is a link for mechanical extraction of the juice: http://www.barc.ernet.in/technologie.../bananabr.html

• Most houses in the villages and even in Chennai in those days used to have space for kitchen gardening, where flowers for the pujas, coconut trees and vegetables were grown to supplement the needs of large joint families which had only one or two breadwinners. These days what we see all around is just a concrete jungle with artificially cultivated useless plants and trees.

These days I am fasting to the Mahalaya Amavasya and I prepare breakfast lunch and dinner each day of this time despite no food for myself. Each of these meals is so close to my heart. I want Beloved to have this food and know it comes without any motivation but bhakti.

NayaSurya, you remind me of the 'The Woman yogi who never eats' (chapter 46) of ParamahaMsa YogAnanda's Autobiography. With such loving heart and care you have for your family, you are indeed a tiny aMsha--share, of Goddess Mother Shakti.

Yajavan's explanation about NavarAtrI and Vijaya-dashami are enlightening.

[upsydownyupsy mv ss]

Food proved me a fool! Yup! My diet is unhealthy and stupid, now making slight changes, slowly and steadily. 90% of our guna output is controlled by food. I'm not saying this from scriptural view, but my own experience. When I eat Tamo-Rajasik food, I act like a monkey . When I eat Tamasic food, I sleep and sleep. When I eat Rajasic food, I'm a well aaa.... this? ->. Lol! When I eat Sattvic food, I'm the one I wanna be.


In yajvan sir's post I saw some saying 16th october! Funny thing is thats my birthday! Lol! I don't celebrate my birthday and don't like to, but this co-incidence appears funny to me.