Genetic Roulette - The Gamble of our Lives

This is a good documentary on GMO. I think everyone should see this. At least even if you decide to continue eating this stuff, you know what you are getting into.

I do not know how long this video would remain free.

Yogic diet

This is an interesting article on Yogic Diet as recommended by Pranayama Pratitioners.

Dietetic Discipline

The proficient in Yoga should abandon articles of food, detrimental to the practice of Yoga. He should give up salt, mustard, sour, hot, pungent and bitter things, asafoetida, worship of fire, women, too much walking, bathing at sunrise, emaciation of the body by fasts, etc. During the early stages of practice food of milk and ghee is ordained; also food consisting of wheat, green pulse and red rice is said to favour the progress. Then he will be able to retain his breath as long as he likes. By thus retaining the breath as long as he likes Kevala Kumbhaka (cessation of breath without inspiration and expiration) is attained. When Kevala Kumbhaka is attained by one, expiration and inspiration are dispensed with. There is nothing unattainable in the three worlds for him. In the commencement of his practice sweat is getting out. As a frog moves by leaps so the Yogi sitting in Padmasana moves on the earth. With a further increased practice, he is able to rise from the ground. He, while seated in lotus-posture, levitates. Then arise in him the power to perform extraordinary feats. Any pain, small or great, does not affect the Yogi. Then excretions and sleep are diminished; tears, rheum in the eyes, salivary flow, sweat and bad smell in the mouth, do not arise in him. With a still further practice, he acquires great strength by which he attains Bhuchara Siddhi which enables him to bring under his control all the creatures that tread on this earth; tigers, Sarabhas, elephants, wild bulls and lions even die by a blow given by the palms of this Yogi. He becomes as beautiful as the God of Love himself. By the preservation of the semen a good odour pervades the body of the Yogi.

Yogic Diet

Instinct or voice within will guide you in the selection of articles of diet. You are yourself the best judge to form a Sattvic Yogic menu to suit your temperament and constitution. Further information is given in the Appendix.

Mitahara

Take wholesome Sattvic food half stomachful. Fill a quarter with pure water. Allow the remaining quarter free for expansion of gas and for propitiating the Lord.

Purity in Food

“Ahara-suddhau sattva-suddhih, Sattva-suddhau dhruva-smritih, Smritilabhe sarvagranthinam vipramokshah.” By the purity of food, follows the purification of the inner nature, on the purity of the inner nature the memory becomes firm and on the strengthening of memory follows the loosening of all ties, and the wise get liberation thereby.

You must not practise Pranayama just after meals. When you are very hungry, then also you must not practise. Go to the water closet and empty the bowels before you begin Pranayama. A Pranayama-practitioner should observe Samyama (control) in food and drink.

Those who are-strict and regular in diet derive immense benefits during the course of practice. They get success quickly. Those persons who suffer from chronic constipation and who are in the habit of defecating in the afternoon can practise Pranayama in the early morning without answering the calls of nature. They should try their level best by some means or other to get an evacuation of their bowels in the early morning.

Food plays a very important role in Yoga Sadhana. An aspirant should be very, very careful in the selection of articles of diet, in the beginning of his Sadhana period. Later on when Pranayama-Siddhi is obtained drastic dietetic restrictions can be removed.

Charu

This is a mixture of boiled, white rice, ghee, sugar and milk. This is a wholesome combination for Brahmacharins and Pranayama-practitioners.

Milk Diet

Milk should be scalded but not too much boiled. The process of scalding is that the milk should be immediately removed from the fire as soon as the boiling point is reached. Too much boiling destroys the vitamins, the mysterious nutritive principles and renders it quite useless as an article of diet. Milk is a perfect food by itself, containing as it does, the different nutritive constituents in a well-balanced proportion. It leaves very little residue in the bowels. This is an ideal food for Yogic students during Pranayama practice.

Fruit Diet

A fruit diet exercises a benign, soothing influence on the constitution and is a very desirable diet for Yogins. This is a natural form of diet. Fruits are very great energy-producers. Bananas, grapes, sweet oranges, apples, pomegranates, mangoes,Chikkus (Sappota) and dates are wholesome fruits. Lemons possess anti-scorbutic properties and act as restoratives to blood. Fruit-juice contains vitamin C. Chikkus increase pure blood. Mangoes and milk is a healthy agreeable combination. You can live on mangoes and milk alone. Pomegranate juice is cooling and very nutritious. Bananas are very nutritious and substantial. Fruits help concentration and easy mental focussing.

Articles Allowed

Barley, wheat, ghee, milk, almonds promote longevity and increase power and strength. Barley is a fine article of diet for a Yogi and Sadhaka. It is cooling too. Sri Swami Narayan, the author of ‘Ek Santka Anubhav’, who wears a Kaupin of gunny bag, lives on bread, made up of barley. He recommends barley bread to his disciples. It is said that Emperor Akbar lived upon barley.

You can take wheat, rice, barley, milk, bread, cow’s milk, ghee, sugar, butter, sugar-candy, honey, dried ginger (Soont), green pulse, Moongdal, Panchashaka vegetables, Peypudalai, potatoes, raisins, dates, light Khichdi of green dal. Khichdi is a light food and can be agreeably taken. The food should be reduced in proportion to the increase in Kumbhaka. You must not reduce your food much, in the beginning of your practice. You must use your commonsense, all throughout the Sadhana. Toor-ki-dal can be taken. The Pancha-Shaka belongs to the species of spinach. They are excellent vegetables; the thick succulent young leaves are boiled and seasoned or fried with ghee. They are five in number, viz., Seendil, Chakravarthi, Ponnangani, Chirukeerai and Valloicharnai keerai. When the Pingala or Suryanadi runs in the right nostril, you must take your food. Suryanadi produces heat. It will digest the food well. You may take jack-fruit, cucumber, brinjal, plantain-stem, Lauki Parval and Bhindi (lady’s finger).

Articles Forbidden

Highly seasoned dishes, hot curries, chutnies, meat, fishes, chillies, sour articles, tamarind, mustard, all kinds of oil, asafoetida, salt, garlic, onions, urad-ki-dal (black gram), all bitter things, dry foods, black sugar, vinegar, alcohol, sour curd, stale foods, acids, astringents, pungent stuff, roasted things, heavy vegetables, over-ripe or unripe fruits, pumpkins, etc., must be avoided. Meat can make man a scientist, but rarely a Philosopher, Yogi or a Tattva Jnani. Onions and garlic are worse than meat. All food-stuffs contain a small quantity of salt. So, even if you do not add salt separately, the system will derive the necessary quantity of salt from other food-stuffs. The giving up of salt will not produce deficiency of hydrochloric acid and dyspepsia as allopathic doctors foolishly imagine. Salt excites passion. No ill-effects are produced by the giving up of salt. Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Yogananda had given up salt for over thirteen years. Giving up salt helps you in controlling the tongue and thereby the mind also and in developing will-power too. You will have good health. Sitting before fire, company of women and worldly-minded people, Yatra, long walk, carrying heavy burdens, cold bath in the early morning, harsh words, speaking untruth, dishonest practices, theft, killing animals, Himsa of all kinds either in thought, word or deed, hatred and enmity towards any person, fighting, quarrelling, pride, double-dealing, intriguing, back-biting, tale-bearing, crookedness, talks other than those of Atman and Moksha, cruelty towards animals and men, too much fasting or eating only once every day, etc., are not allowed for a Pranayama-practitioner.

Vegetarian diet, pork and cancer

According to Master Choa, the modern founder of Pranic Healing and Arhatic Yoga, practitioners of Pranic Healing and Arhatic Yoga must abstain from several types of meat. Namely Pork, Eel and scaleless fish. The reason given is that these animals have dirty energy bodies. Consumption of these types of meat may result in Kundalini Syndrome (走火入魔) for practitioners. It is recommended to eventually go for a vegetarian diet for serious practitioners.


Pork in particular is very dirty. It is strange but Islam has long forbidden the consumption of pork with the supposed reason that there are certain "bacteria" in pork that is dangerous to humans if consumed long term.


From an energy perspective, if we feel the quality of pork energy, you will find that its quality is similar to that of cancer. And this is what I'm going to write about today.



You may notice that if a vegetarian (or vegan) decides to go bak to eating meat, the one meat that they usually have trouble taking again is pork. Beef, mutton, chicken, fish etc can be consumed again after a tough start as you would probably need some getting used to the smell, gross chi etc. But when it comes to pork, that is the most difficult to re-start. Most former vegetarians/vegans probably would never be-able to re-start with pork again. The reason is because, your energy body is finer when you are a vegan/vegetarian. Meat eaters have grosser energy bodies. Pork eaters who eat a lot of pork has the most gross energy body. So the adjustment from vegan to pork is next to impossible unless the person goes to other meat first for a few years (maybe), then attempt to re-start with pork.


However, I must add this. IF you went vegetarian/vegan because of cancer, then my advice is to NEVER EVER consume pork ever again. Because pork energy is similar to cancer, if you went vegan/vegetarian because of cancer, the refine-ness of your energy body that came about from taking only vegetables would not be able to take that plunge into that level of grossness that comes with taking pork. Other meats are fine. You can go back to taking other meats slowly and your body can adjust. But taking pork would cause you to have a relapse faster than you can ever imagine.


I've heard and known of cancer patients who went vegan/vegetarian and survived past the number of years their doctors give them, who immediately went into relapse within a year of taking pork again. And the relapse and subsequent deterioration would be swift and unstoppable. 


Of course, if you have been taking pork all the while, then it is a different story as your body is already used to that energy. So, if you get cured of cancer, taking more pork won't get you a relapse because you are already used to that kind of dirty energy. But chances are, you may be cured but your health may not be as rosy as if you had went vegan. But this is every individual's personal choice after weighing the pros and cons and practicality.


My warning however is that, like I stated earlier, IF you went on a vegetarian/vegan diet because of cancer, NEVER EVER consume pork ever again. It will kill you.

Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease -- Health & Wellness -- Sott.net

Heart Surgeon Speaks Out On What Really Causes Heart Disease -- Health & Wellness -- Sott.net: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242516-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease

Vegetarianism Part 2

Let's now talk a bit about vegetarianism in religion.


For Mahayana Buddhist of chinese "background", they take vegetarian food on the 1st day and 15th day of the lunar month. But is this practice really a buddhist practice? I don't think so. While some would insist that it is, I would beg to differ. It's more a chinese thing that includes Taoism in the fold (but Taosim may not be the reason why). So the Chinese (both Buddhism and Taoism) are the ones who take vegetarian food (if they choose to) on the 1st and 15th day of the lunar month. It's definitely not a buddhist thing. Let's face it, In India, Sri Lanka, Tibet and Thailand the Buddhist there don't take vegetarian food on the 1st and 15th day of the chinese lunar month be it Theravada or Mahayana practitioner. Their calendars are also different.


However, the reason for vegetarianism was not a rule that the Avatar created. It was more a recommendation by the Avatar for the people so that they be more compassionate towards living beings. Of course, to the serious spiritual practitioner, going veg does make sense as it makes ones energy body more refined and well... divine energy is refined. Meat eaters tend to have very un-refined energy bodies. And if you are a serious spiritual practitioner, you should want to make your energy body more refined such that you can receive more divine energies. Of course this is not a hard and fast rule as there are transmutation techniques that a practitioner can use. However, the act of eating meat is still, well... doesn't quite jive with compassion... know what I mean.


Anyway, in Hinduism, my understanding is that the Hindus are recommended to take vegetarian diet on fridays. Though I'm not sure whether it is really on friday because before the julian calendar arrived in India, the practice should be on a certain day according to their Vedic calendar. However, though I really know nothing about Hinduism, I'm sure the basis behind it is also compassion for living beings or cleansing of the body.


I would say that I do advocate a vegetarian diet if possible. But living in the real world makes that not so simple. So, to me a middle path is one of more veg with less meat. And not fake veg by the way. Not only would it be better for your physical body to take more veg, energy wise, it also refines your aura and energy bodies.


Of course, having said that, we still need to be mindful of the words that comes out of our mouths. :-)


Related articles:
Vegetarianism
Vegetarian food vs Real vegetables

Vegetarianism

There has been growing awareness that we should opt for a more vegetable based diet compared to one that is heavy in meat.


Presently, there are those amongst us who have chosen a vegetarian diet for health reasons. There are also those of us who do so due to religion.


While I tend to agree that we should take more veg compared to meat. I must say, however, that I'm not an expert on this subject.


But I do know this.


The Indians and westerners generally go for real vegetables like greens, legumes, tofu etc.


We Chinese on the other hand, subscribe to the Taiwanese style of vegetarian food which comprise a lot of artificial or processed stuff that we pass off as vegetarian food. And when people start realizing that it's fake stuff, some of these producers then switch to organic or make claims that theirs are soya based and not chemical based. That's just self justification to keep the ball rolling. The mind hears what it wants to hear. But I must say this:- "Excellent marketing on the Taiwanese side. You managed to blindside an entire religion's followers" whatever-lah.


I am not saying its bad though IMHO I think if you want to go vegetarian, you should go for the real stuff instead of the fake processed stuff.


However, I would like to bring our attention to the following:-


Those who take vegetarian food for religious purposes still call their dishes meat names. So I don't know how that adds up in religion...know what I mean? The religion says loving kindness and compassion therefore no killing of animals for food, but they call their artificial veg dishes meat names like vegetarian roast pork. Hmmm...


In my view, 3 things here:-
1. From energy perspective, calling it meat names still means meat. So much for compassion and non-attachment etc.


2. Those fake stuff will probably kill you faster than if you take a normal diet with little bit of real meat but more veg and fruits.


3. Some of these vegetarians can't even watch their mouths i.e. the words they use, gossip, back stabbing etc. So if you take veg diet but talk a lot of trash and hurtful things to others then I don't think you are cleansing your soul.


A spiritual master once said, "what comes out of the mouth is more important than what goes into the mouth". Very wise indeed.


Well... This is just me speaking my mind. We're all entitled to our own opinions and I don't mind hearing some of it. :-)


Related post:
Vegetarianism Pt2

Vegetarian Food vs Real Vegetables

Sometimes I wonder about the vegetarian food being sold in Malaysia. It's so full of artificial stuff, one wonders, is it really any better than just eating meat outside.

And to top it all, they call it meat names like "roast goose", "vegetarian chicken" etc etc etc. Its like WTF?

I remember a few years ago, a group of us took a tibetan monk to a vegetarian restaurant. When the food came, the poor lama looked so puzzled by the colorful array of "vegetarian" dishes that he has never seen before in his whole life. And so he asked what are these dishes. And when the answer came back as "vegetarian" this and that, his jaw almost dropped off in disbelief. Needless to say, he only ate the green veg and tofu.

Not long ago too, while I was at SKM, when a group of us was going to Desa Sri Hartamas for lunch. An Indian colleague came by us and asked what are we having for lunch. We told him vegetarian food at DSH. His face went contorted and he asked, "is it one of those… <silent, hand making some gestures>..?". Well, I knew what he was getting at and replied, "yeah.. one of those shit they're passing of as healthy food". And we both laughed and he said he'll pass.

The Indians take real vegetables when they go vegetarian. It's only nut cases like us chinese that take shit and try to pass it off as healthy vegetarian food. It doesn't matter whether it is organic or not, it's just organic shit that we eat. Who're we kidding?

No… to me, if you want to eat healthy vegetarian/vegan diet, than go for real veg, legumes etc and not those processed shit from Taiwan etc.

Just my 2 cents...