What we eat is meant to energize us, to help us break free from the forces that control us, not energize those forces to control us further.

16.12 indicates that we can get bound by desire, which can act like shackles. However, desires are not like shackles that immobilize us. They are more like the puppeteer’s strings that make us move according to a script that we can’t control.

For example, if we become excessively attached to food, we are no longer in control of our dietary choices. One sugary drink leads to a fatty fast-food snack, then a nutrient-poor meal—a cycle. And all along, as we keep eating, we start becoming more and more sluggish in our movements.

We can barely find the energy to do the things that we have to do as our obligations in life. The food we are eating is not nourishing our body, but burdening it with excessive substance to process, which it struggles to expel from the body and accumulates within.

The food we are eating is driven not by the needs of our body but by the cravings of our mind, or more precisely, the impurities stored in our mind. These impurities, such as greed, are like our invisible masters. Not only do they control us, but they make us work for their interests, even when that work is against our own interests. The more we satisfy their dictates by consuming unhealthy food, the stronger their grip becomes upon us. Every indulgence in their demands feeds and energizes them so that they can dominate and drive us further.

This addictive desire, or craving, soon becomes a total dictator, and we end up enslaved. If we are ever to break free from this enslavement, we need to stop feeding them and start feeding our body. That means we need to choose healthy food that will make us fitter physically and will also make our brain less foggy and clearer, so that we can better understand how we are being controlled and gain a greater impetus to fight for our freedom.

This freedom means we are no longer tormented by cravings at the sight of any and every food, and sometimes even without the sight of any food—just by the image of that food popping up in our mind. How much more constructive and productive our lives become as we gain mental clarity and physical energy to use our God-given gifts, ultimately for the service of the all-attractive Lord.

Summary:

  • Food cravings drive our dietary choices. What we eat doesn’t strengthen our body but burdens it with excessive work internally and excessive weight externally. Such indulgence in our cravings only strengthens them so that they drive us further, until we have practically no freedom, as we rush from one unhealthy food to another, trapped in a vicious cycle.
  • Awakening our intelligence and choosing to eat the food that nourishes our body can gradually give us the physical energy and mental clarity that enable us to be productive and constructive in our lives.

Think it over:

  • How are dietary choices burdening us rather than strengthening us?
  • Have you ever discerned or sensed that your dietary choices are controlled by something other than you?
  • What are the benefits of breaking free from the control of tyrannical food cravings?
  • What benefit would you value the most?

***

06.17 He who is regulated in his habits of eating, sleeping, recreation and work can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.