Sharing Food as a🔗

Lifestyle

November 2, 2010

Morbid obesity or clinically severe obesity is a life-threatening condition where the patient is above the optimal weight for their height, due to the chronic urge to overeat. Research says that although genetic mutation, physical addiction, brain chemistry and psychological pain may be the cause, unhealed past life karma is the primary cause.

Starvation in one or more past lives lead to the constant desire to overeat. Not only that, if you have cheated somebody of food, again that karma lands in your system and takes the effect of making you overeat. Please understand, all the countries which are depriving other countries of food are suffering with obesity. Look in. The countries and systems which encourage the deprivation of food to others through various methods, whether scientifically, socially or economically, are suffering with overeating and obesity.

I can say one thing: in the whole world, sharing food freely, at no cost to the receiver, is a lifestyle found only in India. All religious ceremonies invariably involve this sharing of food. This is the Vedic tradition, because we are a grain-based civilization.

Food is not just shared in social or religious ceremonies; I have seen it as a lifestyle. I have seen it in my village - at least in the ten houses in which I grew up! In Indian villages, you don't grow up in one house. You usually live in ten or twelve houses. You stay in one house for four or five days, then in another house for some four or five days. On Saturday and Sunday, you stay in another house. That is the way we all grow up - and there is no reason for it! I have always seen that all those houses are always open either for sadhus, beggars, guests or visitors. I have seen in my grandfather's house - my mother's father's house - that all the villagers who come for business in the city will straightaway walk into the house, eat and go.

It's not even as if they would inform us ahead of time. Only when I saw other countries' lifestyles, I understood that our way is such a big thing!

I am also telling all the cultures and civilizations which do not have the habit of sharing food - just share food and eat. It is a very simple technique so that you don't overeat. Just have four or five people and eat with them; you will never overeat. Overeating always happens with the secret snacking. I always say to have a few people to share food. When I say a few people, I don't mean your own family, but somebody from outside. It is a lifestyle. Also, if you arrange the food and look at the food with lot of respect, then you will never overeat. Sharing will relieve you from obesity.

Sharing food should be a lifestyle. I wanted to give this as one more smrti. Smrti means, the lifestyle to experience and radiate the ultimate truths. Smrti is the lifestyle and ideals which you need to imbibe, to live those ultimate truths in your life. So I wanted to add this one understanding as a smrti for all our disciples and followers: in all your houses, the kitchen should be open to anybody who is hungry. It should be the rule. My disciple or devotee or anybody who considers me as a Guru or God should keep this as a vow. Keep your kitchen open. Don't cook only for yourself. If you are cooking only for you and your family, you can be sure that obesity will be your lifestyle either in this janma or in the next life. Obesity is the way you will live and die.

Food should be shared free, not only because of the understanding of this karma, but as a great understanding about life. Food should be free for the whole of humanity. All our devotees and disciples should keep their kitchen open to any visitor, beggar, sadhu. Even the animals who live around in that area should be given food. And any of our disciples or devotees who are in the positions of decision-makers, either socially or politically, or as religious leaders, or anybody else, I command all of you to work to make food as a free commodity on the planet Earth.

Food should be available for anybody, for any form of life which is breathing. When I say breathing, you should not exclude trees. They do breathe. For anything which is alive, food should be free and available. Making the food available is one of the greatest virtues and the first virtue, the first important lifestyle. All our communities, temples, devotees, disciples, ashrams and our sangha should take this up as a command from Swamiji. The kitchen should be always available and open to whoever comes. Understand: you will never have an economical problem by running an open kitchen. No. That is my blessing to the whole sangha. Understand keep Annapoorni (the goddess of food) available to the whole world, and you will see that Lakshmi will shower abundance constantly on you. This should be a lifestyle.