Healthy food:🔗

In Sanskrit, they divide it into three types:

Sāttvic foods are those which contain very low quantities of oil, hot ingredients like chilies etc. and other spicy items.

Rājasic foods are those which are hot, containing lots of oils and all foods cooked with spices.

Tāmasic foods include fried foods which contain large amounts of fat, foods which have become old and spoiled and foods which are taken solely for their tastes and are without any nutritional values.

Sāttvic foods possess the quality of keeping the body and mind very pleasant.

Rājasic foods have the quality of increasing the tension and anger in us.

Tāmasic foods have the quality of increasing dullness, laziness and sleep.

If you like to have pleasant feelings and a light body, take only Sāttvic foods. You will see the results for yourself in only a few days.

Healthy environment:

A peaceful atmosphere containing clean air and unpolluted water is the environment most suitable for a man to live in.

That is why all the old civilizations were formed on the banks of the rivers. Due to the uncontrolled population growth, a healthy atmosphere has become utterly impossible.

Still, here and there, there are some parks and temples which a healthy atmosphere. For those who live in cities, sitting peacefully and meditating in a healthy atmosphere will be healthy to their minds and bodies.

Healthy relationships:

Those who possess a healthy body and mind cannot sit at all with laziness. Even in dreams they cannot have a sad face. They will always like to remain alert and joyful.

Those who remain wounded in their minds can only wound others' minds. Some people ask others, thoughtlessly, 'Alas! What really happened to you? Why have you become so thin?'

On listening to such a question, even persons with perfect health and strong mind also, will run away from such people. They will even become doubtful about their well-being.

Those who are healthy, even without their knowing so, will have positive, good and healthy relationships with all people. They will ask everybody, 'What Sir, how are you? Fine?' They will ask 'Healthy?' Innocently they will ask 'Oh! You should be very happy! You have put up some flesh too! Good!'

On seeing such an inquiry, even if a person has some problems in his body, he will soon be alright.

It is enough if our approach is healthy. We will get good relationships easily. Try to become healthy! Be healthy!

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• & The answers given by most people for the question 'Who are you?'

An illiterate: - Thinks, 'I am the body' A literate: - Thinks, 'I am the mind' A learned man: - Thinks, 'I am the soul'

• All these three thoughts are only the illusions of the mind. Mere opinions. Who is the real you? This cannot be understood until we get self-realization.
• Life is Maya (Illusion)

• If a man, who is struggling with various problems, says 'life is maya', it is a lie. It is simply a lame excuse for not knowing how to really enjoy life.

• If a man, who boldly faces and solves all sorts of problems, says 'Life is mava', then it is a fact. It is a clear opinion, born out of an understanding of life after experiencing all sorts of pains in life.

• If an enlightened person, who has attained that state of not getting affected by problems at all, says, 'life is maya' then it is a truth. It is an outcome of having experienced the pains and pleasures of life and attaining ultimate wisdom.

• An average person will misunderstand the statement of an enlightened Master's saving 'life is mava.' He will use it as an idea to justify his own struggling life. That is all. This is nothing but misunderstanding the truth and turning it into a lie. This is the biggest maya; greatest illusion of all illusions!

Some people will be sitting sad. If we ask them, 'What is the matter?' they will say, 'I am not feeling well at all mentally….' Some others will say 'Oh, the mind is a monkey. You should not allow it to jump as it likes. You must keep it under control. '

We always talk about mind. What is it? It is only an organized structure gifted by God to man for him to live as a real man. The mind is a servant which helps in satisfying the needs and necessities of its Master. which is man, to lead a happy life.

The reason for all the problems is that the mind, which should be under the control of man, has become a structure which actually controls the man.

If a servant behaves like a Master at a time when he is adequately careful, how will it be?

An immature servant becoming a Master is like catching a monkey and seating it on a throne. That is why all great enlightened Masters compare the mind to a monkey and call it a 'monkey mind.' Until the monkey is removed from the throne, problems and worries are bound to follow.

Mind has the quality of creating all sorts of problems and imitations. Maya is one of them.

Maya, or illusion, is that which shows something non-existing. Being afraid, thinking about or desiring a non-existent thing as if it really existed, are outcomes of maya.

Here is a story to understand more clearly about maya ....

Two monks were traveling on a journey towards Tibet. They continued their journey begging for their food all along the way. The older monk among them was feeling restless from the time they started their iourney, after finishing a nice feast in the house of a person who was a devotee of Lord Shiva.

The elder monk, as he was walking, was looking back again. There was a little unusual frustration in his face that day.

He was walking hurriedly. There was a shiver in his voice. He was often touching and feeling for something in his shoulder bag.

The younger monk, who was walking with him thought 'Why is he looking frustrated?'

Then both the monks drank some water near a well and rested for awhile. In a short while, the elder monk slept soundly. Without disturbing his sleep, the young monk slowly took away his bag.

On opening the bag, he saw that there was a golden crown was earlier given to the old monk by the devotee of Shiva). Now he could clearly understand the reason for the hurry and frustration of the old monk.

The young monk took out that golden crown from the bag and threw it away and replaced it in the bag with a wooden piece of almost the same size and shape and put it back on the lap of the sleeping older monk.

After some time, both of them resumed their journev. The old monk continued to walk with his same frustration. He was also touching and feeling the bag as before.

The younger monk asked as though he was innocent. 'Oh Monk, why are you looking so frustrated?' Any problem?'

The old monk replied, 'No. No. That devotee of Shiva, in whose we had the nice feast, had given me a golden crown and asked me to donate it to some temple at Varanasi. On the way, some thieves or robbers may come! That is why I am feeling frustrated.'

The young monk asked, as if innocent, 'Is it the small crown in that bag that took away your freedom and caused frustration in you?' The old monk replied 'Yes.'

'Can you surely say that only the crown in this bag frightened you this much?' asked the young monk.

'Yes,' said the old monk.

'If that is so, then open your bag and see.' said the young monk.

On opening the bag, the old monk was shocked. Except for a small wooden piece there was nothing else. He was almost shaken.

The young monk said. 'It is I who threw away that crown and kept this wooden piece as well, when we were near the well. Now do you realize to what extent the maya, or illusions of the mind, shakes up and controls a man?' This made the old monk realize the truth.

Overcoming his shock, the old monk laughed with all his heart, at having remained in a frustrated state of mind to such an extent, all the while thinking about an actual wooden piece as a golden crown.

Like this golden crown, our mind also involves itself wholly in protecting as if it is a treasure, all the name and fame, money and such other illusory things.

In reality, all these things, name and fame, position, things, money, etc. are not golden crowns, but mere wooden pieces. Just like a water bubble, they will be with you only for certain duration.

If we understand this reality and act accordingly, we will control our mind and the mind will not control us.

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Let us Welcome Confusion

• ❖ We need not hate confusion; understand that it is an indication that we are growing.
• ☆ There is nothing wrong if we are confused. It is wrong only if we continue to remain confused.
• ❖ It is just for us to be confused; to confuse others is unjust.
• ❖ Today's confusion is tomorrow's clarity.