Health, Yoga, & Spiritual Diet

SRILA PRABHUPADA SPEAKS ABOUT ~

HEALTH, YOGA, AND SPIRITUAL DIET

NECTAREAN MILK

...the cultivation of bhakti-yoga is compared to many material activities. By friction one can get fire from wood, by digging the earth one can get food grains and water, and by agitating the milk bag of the cow one can get nectarean milk. Milk is compared to nectar, which one can drink to become immortal. Of course, simply drinking milk will not make one immortal, but it can increase the duration of ones life.

TAKE AMPLE MILK PROLONG LIFE, DEVELOP THE BRAIN, EXECUTE DEVOTIONAL SERVICE [YOGA]

In modern civilization, men do not think milk to be important, and therefore they do not live very long. Although in this age men can live up to one hundred years, their duration of life is reduced because they do not drink large quantities of milk. This is a sign of Kali-yuga. In Kali-yuga, instead of drinking milk, people prefer to slaughter an animal and eat its flesh. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His instructions of Bhagavad-gita, advises cow protection. The cow should be protected, milk should be drawn from the cows, and this milk should be prepared in various ways. One should take ample milk, and thus one can prolong ones life, develop his brain, execute devotional service, and ultimately attain the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is essential to get food grains and water by digging the earth, it is also essential to give protection to the cows and take nectarean milk from their milk bags. (SB 8.6.12)

HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR DIET?

Student: How important is your diet?
Prabhupada: Oh, that is a very important thing. If you read Dr. George Bernard Shaws book, You Are What You Eat, you see. So if you eat like human being, then you can increase your qualities of human being. If you eat like cats and dogs, you increase the quality of cats and dogs. Thats all. So we must have discrimination what to eat. That is there in the human world. Eating is there Even stool is eatable by a certain kind of animal, but that does not mean that stool has to be eaten by human being.

FOOD SUITABLE FOR MY HEALTH, MY INTELLIGENCE, MY BRAIN

Human being must have discretion what kind of food will be just suitable for my health, for my intelligence, for my brain.
So these things are prescribed. If we eat things which are in goodness... They are prescribed in the Vedic literature that wheat, rice, sugar, milk product, vegetables, fruits, these things are in goodness. So if you want to increase your quality of goodness, that is required for God realization. Unless you are situated in the quality of goodness, you cannot be promoted to the higher platform. So your eating should be arranged within this group: rice, wheat, sugar, milk product, vegetables, and fruits. In your country you have got enough nice grains, nice fruits, enough supply of milk, butter. So there is no question of accepting any other food. You can accept foodstuff within this group and become healthy and good brain, good conscience. You can engage yourself in God consciousness. That is possible. So therefore Discrimination is the best part of valor. We should discriminate what kind of food we should eat. We cannot eat anything and everything. That discrimination must be there. (Lecture at Harvard University 12/294/69 Boston)

LIVE VERY HAPPILY, WITHOUT ANXIETIES

The residents of the material world who enjoy the products of these flowing rivers have no wrinkles on their bodies and no grey hair. They never feel fatigue, and perspiration does not give their bodies a bad odor. They are not afflicted by old age, disease or untimely death, they do not suffer from chilly cold or scorching heat, nor do their bodies lose their luster. They all live very happily, without anxieties, until death.
PURPORT: This verse hints at the perfection of human society even within this material world. The miserable conditions of this material world can be corrected by a sufficient supply of milk, yogurt, honey, ghee, molasses, food grains, ornaments, bedding, sitting places and so on. This is human civilization. Ample food grains can be produced through agricultural enterprises, and profuse supplies of milk, yogurt and ghee can be arranged through cow protection. Abundant honey can be obtained if the forests are protected.

NUTS, BOLTS AND WINE INSTEAD OF YOGURT, MILK AND HONEY
IF PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT HAPPINESS

Unfortunately, in modern civilization, men are busy killing the cows that are the source of yogurt, milk and ghee, they are cutting down all the trees that supply honey, and they are opening factories to manufacture nuts, bolts, automobiles and wine instead of engaging in agriculture. How can the people be happy? They must suffer from all the misery of materialism. Their bodies become wrinkled and gradually deteriorate until they become almost like dwarves, and a bad odor emanates...