The benefits of meat and the dangers of yoga

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the discourse about the dangers of meat that I often hear from vegetarians, there are some things that I can safely agree with, along with arguments that have nothing to do with reality.

Since I had a five-year experience of complete vegetarianism (no meat, no fish, no eggs) during which I read all the fundamental oriental treatises concerning Indian cosmology, philosophy of Buddhism and Taoism, including works on Ayurveda, acupuncture, yoga and other knowledge, I I can say a few words about this. Naturally, for a long time I have been practicing various health-improving psychophysical practices from Vipassanaand walking on coals, until retreatsand breathing technician. I will not go into detail on the systems that I have been able to experience on myself, I will say that these were practically all methods known in esoteric circles fifteen years ago.

For convenience, I will reduce my observations to theses

Ayurveda and food types

1. Talking about the benefits or harms of a product for health with reference to AyurvedaThere are a few things we need to keep in mind. The first is the varnas (we have a more widespread word for "castes") that exist in India to this day. This is an analogue of the pre-revolutionary Russian estates, where the highest level was occupied by brahmins(priests, representatives of a religious cult). Below were located kshatriyas(warriors, kings). Then came vaisyas(merchants and large landowners). The first three castes were called dviji, which meant twice-born.

Followed by sudras (farm laborers, servants and poor peasants) and closed the social ladder " untouchable"- a despised and disenfranchised social stratum. Even a chance encounter with an untouchable dviji led to serious purification procedures.

2. The second is the gunas, i.e. quality, properties.

sattva - the basis of the mind, characterized by subtlety, lightness, light and joy;

rajas - the basis of energy, characterized by activity, excitement and suffering;

tamas - the basis of inertia, characterized by rudeness, apathy, amorphousness and darkness.

Food according to Ayurveda is divided into:

Tamasic - i.e. stupefying, which included river fish, root crops (food of peasants and untouchables), as well as any stale food.

Rajasic - promoting strength and energy, it was meat and hot spices (food for warriors)

Sattvic - the use of which led to goodness and contemplation. All dairy products, sweet fruits, honey, cereals, nuts and rice (food of the priests) were considered such products.

notice, that there was no mass consumption of alcohol either then or now in India.

Influence of climate and food on humans

3. Hindustan, both then and now, was a climatic place that can be divided into two conditional areas: where it is hot and where it is very hot. Any hard physical work or exercise in such a climate is simply contraindicated. So a favorite pastime of Indians for millennia is chatting with neighbors near a sprawling banyan tree or some other tree.

Therefore, Hindus are greedy for various sermons and speeches of local gurus, begging and absolute disregard for everyday amenities. In this we have a certain similarity with them.

4. It is unlikely that I will surprise anyone if I say that in Russia and in the Soviet Union, 85 percent of the population was cereals, lake or river fish, chicken, eggs, vegetables, canned food, bacon, bread.

Meat in the diet of peasants was extremely rare. In the USSR, if we take the Brezhnev period, the situation has changed a little for the better, as an alternative to meat, all kinds of sausages and sausages, stew, preserves and canned foods appeared, that is, food is pure poison. And to this day, even pork kebab remains a delicacy in Russia.

In fact, the diet of the average Russian has not expanded much. Yes, the country has started to consume more chicken and fish. Bananas, durum wheat pasta and some other products have become quite commonplace on the table. All this food set quite clearly classifies our population as a lower caste, developing stupidity and inertia in it at the level of the physical body.

5. The harsh climatic conditions of Russia, long winters and short summers, despite the obvious difference with the climate of Hindustan, still have similarities with it in terms of the degree of impact on the mentality of the people. In both cases, a person is left to self-contemplation for a long time (to lie on the stove and spit at the ceiling). In both cases, the immaterial in a person dominates the material.

There is one "but" the physical condition of a northern person needs strength and rigidity … He plows through difficult soil, knocks down the forest, wears heavy clothes. His diet is in dire need of fat. To keep the body warm. The man of the South is flexible and less sturdy. He hardly wears any clothes, and does not engage in intense physical labor.

What is Yoga?

6. Now we are smoothly approaching yoga. I have already written many times that due to the distortion of concepts, the word "yoga" has absolutely lost its primary meaning. For the advanced, I recommend an immortal work translated into a dozen languages called the Living Beer Yoga Sutra.

In a nutshell, then Yoga is the practice of stopping the vibrations of the mind … The three basic conditions for yoga practitioners are having a mentor, complete immobility for a long time and privacy.

What we mean by "yoga" is nothing more than a system of gymnastic exercises that appeared a little over one hundred and fifty years ago. During this time, these exercises were overgrown with myths, legends, were supplemented with breathing and cleansing practices, spiced with mysticism and approved in their inviolability by self-appointed Gurus. Now the number of schools of such "yoga" is several hundred.

The spread of such "yoga" in India itself, on the one hand, was associated with an influx of Americans and Europeans thirsty for insights and revelations. On the other hand, it was due a multimillion army of idlerstrying to make money on it.

Sexual energy

7. A few more points that should be paid attention to. This is sex and gastrointestinal behavior. We will not delve into the jungle of the origin, accumulation and release (sublimation) of sexual energy, just imagine the following. A man is a kettle on the stove.

The accumulation of energy (steam) occurs at the very bottom (mooladhara), from where it has two outputs. Part comes out through the spout (svadhisthana), part through the lid (sahasrara). Since the lid can sit quite tightly, all steam escapes through the spout until the kettle is turned off. There are such expressions among the people “ let off steam », « boil », « get hot », « boiled . If you plug the spout and lift the lid, all the steam will go through the top.

Unfortunately, in Russia people have a tightly sealed lid, so the main actions are performed with the help of the instinctive-motor center. The work of such a center is determined by the combination of fear and aggression, which in a society is always fraught with problems, illnesses, constipation and other problems. Anyone who has been to India knows that the stomach works flawlessly there, once. Sexual energy is easily sublimated, two.

These two things also serve flexibility, both mental and physical. If you remember one of the busiest streets Mumbai, where six lanes of crazy traffic in one direction and six in the other, then you will understand what I mean. This route can be crossed at right angles without traffic lights and crossings cripples, camels, peasants on carts, donkeys; it is crossed by auto rickshaws, cyclists, motorbikes, beggars,beggars and other motley Indian audience. This fact does not cause attacks of fierce anger or uncontrollable aggression in anyone.

Varna signs

8. And finally the last. From time immemorial, each varna has its own rules and psychophysical exercises.

Brahmins recite mantras, study the Vedas, practice religious rituals and establish norms of behavior for everyone else. He is using sattvic food in small quantities. They do not think about their daily bread. The priests sublimate their sexual energy into spiritual growth.

Kshatriyas support the power of the Brahmins, manage the lives and incomes of the other castes, and also give them protection. They practice martial arts, build muscle corset, eat meat, and actively have sex. Religious rituals strengthen the power of warriors and kings.

Merchants and landowners unquestioningly obey the priests and warriors. They can eat any food, are quite active in sex and have a balance between physical and mental development.

Peasants exist in the dust. They are born in dust and turn into dust. They work hard to get a piece of bread. Food, sex, living conditions, mental abilities, goals - all this makes the fourth Varna look like draft animals.

Untouchable excluded from society. They eat mainly garbage, root vegetables or fruits. They sit back, beg, steal, rape, kill.

9. What happens?

The result is the following:

1. Gymnastic exercises, mistakenly called "yoga" in our country even in Indian society there is a lot of idlers … After all, they are given a significant part of the time. In our society, such a practice, under the guidance of home-grown gurus, only strengthens the human Ego. The ego is the Yogin's main enemy.

2. Vegetarianism - This is a historically established diet of farmers around the world. However, it is neither established nor religious (the Hindus are an exception in view of the fact that the cow is considered a sacred animal), and dictated by a lack of choice. Whenever possible, peasants happily consume meat.

3. Since Yoga is an exercise in immobility of the mind with the help of immobility of the body., and its goal is the achievement of Samadhi, then no physical exercises can be called yoga. Or more precisely: everything can be called yoga - bodybuilding, biathlon, and chess. As said Sri Aurobindo - all life is yoga.

4. Both meat and gymnastic exercises are necessary if a person has any goals in life other than breaking the chains of Samsara.

5. A person who practices Yoga (stopping the mind through concentration and meditation) for faithfulness should be called a Yogi.

6. Avoiding animal food altogether has short-term benefit. But this benefit arises not from improving the physical condition of a person, but from mental control over his body.

7. Hippocrates formulated the principles of nutrition of a European once and for all. And no one discovered anything new after him:

a. Your food should be medicine and your medicine should be food.

b. Everything is good that in moderation.

v. As the cloth makers clean the cloth, knocking them out of dust, so gymnastics cleanses the body.

d. Neither satiety, nor hunger, and nothing else is good if you overstep the measure of nature.

e. The effect of dietary aids is long-lasting, while the effect of drugs is transient.

8. Hence the conclusion.

The harm of gymnastic exercises, which we mistakenly call "yoga", consists of three things.

- In a far-fetched religious and philosophical background.

- In the presentation of these exercises, as a kind of panacea for all problems.

- In the imposition of patterns of behavior and nutrition.

The benefits of red meat also consists of three factors:

- It provides the missing vitamins and minerals to the human body.

- It promotes muscle growth, body strength and self-defense readiness.

- It gives rajasic energy, energy of passion and desire for victory.