The term “food” refers to what we consume. The food we eat is evaluated from the perspective of the three gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas. Individuals tend to prefer food that aligns with their inherent nature; for example, a person with a sattvic disposition will favour sattvic foods. This concept is elaborated in the Bhagavad Gita (17-7,8,9). Sattvic food contributes to the development of a sattvic mind. This topic was discussed in a previous note.

The Sanskrit word “aahaara,” meaning food, is used in Vedanta to include all intakes from the five senses – the sights seen, sounds heard, smells detected, touches felt, and tastes experienced. Before the invention of writing, knowledge was transmitted through hearing, from teacher to student, making the sense of hearing a primary source of knowledge. Later, the sense of sight has become more prominent, and now we read texts on screens or books to acquire information. All these sensory inputs constitute our aahaara. These inputs are conveyed to the mind, where they create and store impressions, which can be either pleasant or unpleasant. These stored impressions influence subsequent behaviour, either encouraging one to seek them again or avoid them.

The word aahaara also includes all our daily interactions with several people, friends, family members and the consequent emotional demands and stress. Aahaara also includes the good and bad books we read, the blockbusters or addictive serials we see on TV, resulting in cluttering our minds. There can be resultant moral confusion.

A time comes when the burden grows, and we have to declutter the mind if we have to remain happy. Some assistance is needed to restrain the senses and mind from running after things. Assistance has to come from within. This becomes sadhana. A conscious effort has to be made to get away from the lure of sensual attractions. This conscious effort is similar to fasting. The Gita uses the word nirahara, fasting, while talking about such effort. We have to consciously practice fasting by all the sense organs. Just as we avoid junk food, we have to consciously evaluate the good or bad our relationships have done in the long run and detach the mind from many of them. We have to avoid some unpleasant people or interactions and make the mind and lifestyle simple and happy. This is similar to the deaddiction of drug or alcohol addicts. Despite this there can be a longing lingering in the mind for those objects and experiences which had once given some sensual pleasure, says Krishna (2-59).

This longing in the mind is not only due to the pleasant memories of the object, but also due to the value attached by society to certain things, such as membership in a group. This is a type of peer group influence on us. The long-term value of such things has to be evaluated, and they can be neutralized by filling the mind with some positive stuff. The present-day psychologists have adopted it as mindfulness meditation.

Positive intake is from practices like karma yoga, in which one attains purity of mind by discharging a duty in accordance with the cosmic scheme. There is no stress in achievement or non-achievement. Similarly, devotion to a higher entity, called God, can fill the mind with love for fellow beings and it can ease the clutter in the mind. But the greatest benefit is from the knowledge of the self, when one approaches a teacher and contemplates the higher purpose in life. Meditation is also aahaara, giving rise to new samskaras which drive away the old ones.

Liberation is said to be the highest stage of happiness. But even for a person at the social level, the formula for happiness is regulating food for the mind. The food we take determines our physical and mental health in all stages of life. The intellectual intake is much similar to this. It causes greater turbulence than physical food. We may handle turbulence in our youth, but we may not have the same strength as years pass by and hence, we must reduce the clutter.

(The writer is a former

DGP, Andhra Pradesh)