Talk:Reducing Bad Karm and Adding Good Karm:Augmenting Good Karm:Pure Food and Environment

By Vishal Agarwal

In some religions like Christianity, the purity of food is said to be irrelevant to internal purity. But it is observed even in our daily lives that certain types of food and drink impact our behavior.

When there is purity of food, the mind becomes pure; when the mind becomes pure, it remembers the Bhagavān and by remembrance of the Bhagavān, liberation (mokṣa) is attained. Sāmaveda, Chāndogya Upaniṣad 7.26.2

Rāmānujācārya (1017–1137 CE) taught that food can be considered impure due to the following four causes in his commentary on the *Bhagavad Gītā*:

1. Prohibited by the scriptures, e.g., beef.
2. Due to contamination with an unclean substance, e.g., food in which hair has fallen.
3. Food that has been polluted due to proximity with an unclean object (not actual contact), like that which has been kept in the same room as a corpse, or which is stale.
4. Food that is procured using ill-begotten wealth.

Kṛṣṇa himself classifies food into three categories to emphasize that we must consume only sāttvic food:

Even the food that everyone prefers (or loves) is of three types, and so also worship, austerity, charity. Hear from me the distinctions in these (three types). Gītā 17.7

Enhancers of lifespan, mind, strength, health, happiness and cheerfulness, juicy, fatty, wholesome and hearty foods are dear to the sāttvic type of persons. Gītā 17.8

Bitter, sour, salty, very hot, spicy, dry and burning foods are desired by rājasic persons, and these cause distress, grief and sickness. Gītā 17.9

Food that is cooked 3 hours before consumption, has become desiccated, and also which is putrid and decomposing, also leftover and defiling (or not fit for Vedic sacrifice), is liked by tāmasic persons. Gītā 17.10

Likewise, food that is not shared with others becomes poison:

The food of that person who does not share it with others is a waste indeed. I truly say this, that his food becomes his death, not his life. A miser neither feeds the hungry guest, nor does he offer food to Bhagavān. Eating for himself alone, he becomes a consumer of sin alone. Ṛgveda 10.117.6

Food is not just what we consume with our mouth, but refers to everything that we intake through our senses (eyes, ears, nose, skin, and tongue) consciously or passively (unconsciously). Even items that we consume unconsciously can have a subliminal or a latent effect on our minds. For instance, if we constantly read books that glorify violence casually, then after a while, the mind starts taking violence as something natural and acceptable. For this reason, to the best of one’s ability, one should place oneself in an environment that is nurturing, peaceful, spiritual, ethical, and so on. This is also the idea behind cultivating good company or associating with virtuous people and groups (see the next two sections as well).