Harmful Foods
Different foods produce different effects in different
compartments of the brain. Spiced dishes, sour things, black gram, onions,
garlic, tea, wine, fish, meat, mustard oil, etc., excite passions and emotions
and should, therefore, be avoided. They should be particularly avoided by a
Sadhaka. A Jijnasu (spiritual aspirant) should strictly give up meat, fish and
alcoholic drinks as these make the mind coarse and produce excitement in the
mind. Heavy food brings Tandri (drowsiness) and Alasya (laziness). Tea should
be given up. It destroys Virya. Sugar must be taken in moderation. It is better
if it is given up.
Food Items Helpful In Meditation
Milk, fruits, almonds, sugar-candy, butter, green oats, Bengal
oats (Chenai) soaked in water overnight, bread, etc., are all helpful in
meditation. Thed, a kind of Kandamula found in abundance in Brahmapuri,
Vasishtha Guha and other parts of the Himalayas, is very Sattvic. It helps
meditation. My friend and spiritual brother Swami Purushottamanandaji used to
live on that for some days when he was at Vasishtha Guha, fourteen miles from
the reputed Rishikesh. Sunthi-Sevana (taking powder of dried ginger) is very
good for aspirants. It can be taken along with milk. It refreshes the mind and
helps digestion. Yogins take it very often. Triphala water also is taken by
Yogins. It removes constipation, cools the system and stops wet-dreams.
Myrobalan or Haritaki (Harad of the yellow kind) can be chewed by Yogic
practitioners very often. It preserves semen and checks nocturnal discharges.
Potatoes boiled without salt or roasted in fire are very good.
Thought Gives Health
If you
entertain healthy thoughts, you can keep good health. If you hold on to sickly
thoughts in the mind, thoughts of diseased tissues, thoughts of weak-nerves,
thoughts of improper functioning of organs or viscera, you can never expect
good health, beauty and harmony. The body is the product of the mind. If you
hold on vigorous thoughts in the mind, then the physical body also will be
vigorous.
Evil thoughts of all kinds befoul and infure the mind and, if
persisted in, will become veritable diseases and maimings of the mind,
incurable during the period of life.
Benefits Of
Thought-Control
Thoughts lead to action. Thoughts are the sources of all actions.
Thought is the real Karma. Thinking is the real action. If you can root out all
evil thoughts in the beginning, you will not do any evil action. If you can nip
them in the bud, you will be free from the miseries and tribulations of this
world. Watch your thoughts with vigilance and introspection.Thought is the real action. Activities of the mind are the real Karmas. Once the Vikshepa of the mind vanishes, you will get good Nishtha (meditation). The mind will be very, very calm. Get rid of the impurities of the mind. Have mastery over the mind. Then all the miseries of the Samsara with births and deaths will come to an end. If you free yourself from the clutches of the mind, Moksha (liberation) will come by itself. There is no doubt about this.
A wise man watches his thoughts and eradicates all evil thoughts as they arise from the surface of the mind. So he is happy. He has always pure thoughts. By meditation on God, pure thoughts emanate from the mind, because God is purity (Nitya Suddha).
If you have control over your thoughts, you can turn out immense work with intense concentration. Mental torments of all sorts, cares, worries and anxieties will disappear. The peace that you will enjoy cannot be adequately described.
Those who have even a little control over their thoughts and speech will have a calm, serene, beautiful, charming face, sweet voice and brilliant, lustrous white eyes. Just as sweet perfume continuously emanates from an incense stick, so also divine perfume and divine effulgence (magnetic, Brahmic aura) radiate from a Yogin who has controlled his thoughts and who is constantly dwelling on Brahman or the infinite. The effulgence and perfume of his face is Brahma-Varchas. When you hold in your hand a bouquet made of jasmine, rose and Champaka flowers, the sweet perfume pervades the whole hall and tickles all alike. Even so, the perfume of fame and reputation (Yasas and Kirti) of a Yogin who has controlled his thoughts spreads far and wide. He becomes a cosmic force.
Radium is a rare commodity. There are only 16 grains in the world. Yogins who have controlled their thoughts are also very rare in the world, like radium.
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