Holy food

"When nourishment is pure, reflection and higher understanding are pure, memory becomes strong. When memory becomes strong, there is release from all the knots of the heart." Chandogya Upanishad, I. vii.

According to India's ancient medical teachings, ayurveda, foods are grouped into sattvic, rajasic and tamasic categories: goodness, passion and ignorance. Traditional vegetarianism not only excludes meat and fish, but eggs, onion, garlic and mushrooms too.

Meat is avoided because it causes the needless harm of other living things. Onions, garlic and mushrooms are avoided because they belong in the last two categories and negatively alter the energy of the person who consumes them: not only do they increase passion and ignorance, they stimulate the central nervous system (and sexual desire) and disturb meditation. Widows and those who are grieving traditionally also avoid "rajasic and tamasic" foods.

For many years I've walked past London's Hare Krishna "pure vegetarian" restaurant Govinda's, off Soho Square, but have never eaten there. I finally got the opportunity tonight and the setting was appropriate.

Our family suffered a bereavement over the weekend and Hindu custom requires we abstain from rajasic and tamasic foods for 4 or 11 days (4 days for those who live far away from the immediate family, as we do in England). Though two of us here in England are not traditional Hindus, we observe this custom as a mark of respect.

The "pure" in Govinda's vegetarianism means it adheres to these old Hindu food prescriptions and the food was satisfyingly simple: we each had a thali comprising a variety of vegetable dishes, including peas and paneer (a type of cheese), cabbage and potato curry and a red bean curry. The water was self-served in the same kinds of stainless steel beakers you drink out of in cafes in India.

An uplifting evening.

Related link:
+ History of Indian medicine. An excellent directory of links.

Other links today:

+ Every race, colour, nation and religion on earth. "London in 2005 can lay claim to being the most diverse city ever. According to the last census, 30% of London residents had been born outside England. More than 300 languages are spoken by the people of London, and the city has at least 50 non-indigenous communities with populations of 10,000 or more. Virtually every race, nation, culture and religion in the world can claim at least a handful of Londoners."

+ The Martin Luther King you don't see on TV. "After passage of civil rights acts in 1964 and 1965, King began challenging the nation's fundamental priorities. He maintained that civil rights laws were empty without 'human rights' - including economic rights. For people too poor to eat at a restaurant or afford a decent home, King said, anti-discrimination laws were hollow." He was also a staunch opponent of the Vietnam war and claimed that from Vietnam to South Africa to Latin America, the US was "on the wrong side of a world revolution". An amazing article all the way from 1995.

+ Race isn't as clear as black and white. "Racial identity is something to be claimed and not defined by someone else. And no matter how much the public might want it to be so, race doesn't fit neatly into any sort of box."