We Still Eat Neolithic Fod

Source: Email from delanceypl​ace.com 1/19/12 

In today's encore excerpt - even at the fanciest restaurants, we still eat the same narrow range of meats and grains first domesticated and cultivated in the Neolithic period. Our hunter-gatherer forbears ate surprising well, and we were reduced to narrowed, poorer diets when we first moved from hunter-gatherer societies to city-based agricultural societies. These narrowed diets brought stunted growth and greater disease. So why did we transition from the relative freedom and better food of hunter-gatherer societies to the serfdom and disease of agricultural societies? In part because the percentage of deaths by warfare fell to single digits from rates that had been well over 50% for some hunter-gatherers:

"It is not as if farming brought a great improvement in living standards. ... A typical hunter-gatherer enjoyed a more varied diet and consumed more protein and calories than settled people, and took in five times as much vitamin C as the average person today. Even in the bitterest depths of the ice ages, we now know, nomadic people ate surprisingly well - and surprisingly healthily. Settled people, by contrast, became reliant on a much smaller range of foods, which all but ensured dietary insufficiencies. The three great domesticated crops of prehistory were rice, wheat, and maize, but all had significant drawbacks as staples. As the journalist John Lanchester explains: 'Rice inhibits the activity of Vitamin A; wheat has a chemical that impedes the action of zinc and can lead to stunted growth; maize is deficient in essential amino acids and contains phytates, which prevent the absorption of iron.' The average height of people actually fell by almost six inches in the early days of farming in the Near East. Even on Orkney, where prehistoric life was probably as good as it could get, an analysis of 340 ancient skeletons showed that hardly any people lived beyond their twenties.

"What killed the Orcadians was not dietary deficiency but disease. People living together are vastly more likely to spread illness from household to household, and the close exposure to animals through domestication meant that flu (from pigs or fowl), smallpox and measles (from cows and sheep), and anthrax (from horses and goats, among others) could become part of the human condition, too. As far as we can tell, virtually all of the infectious diseases have become endemic only since people took to living together. Settling down also brought a huge increase in 'human commensals' - mice, rats, and other creatures that live with and off us - and these all to often acted as disease vectors.

"So sedentism meant poorer diets, more illness, lots of toothache and gum disease, and earlier deaths. What is truly extraordinary is that these are all still factors in our lives today. Out of the thirty thousand types of edible plants thought to exist on Earth, just eleven - corn, rice, wheat, potatoes, cassava, sorghum, millet, beans, barley, rye, and oats - account for 93 percent of all that humans eat, and every one of them was first cultivated by our Neolithic ancestors. Exactly the same is true of husbandry. The animals we raise for food today are eaten not because they are notably delectable or nutritious or a pleasure to be around, but because they were the ones first domesticated in the Stone Age.

"We are, in the most fundamental way, Stone Age people ourselves. From a dietary point of view, the Neolithic period is still with us. We may sprinkle our dishes with bay leaves and chopped fennel, but underneath it all is Stone Age food. And when we get sick, it is Stone Age diseases we suffer."
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Author: Bill Bryson; Title: At Home; Publisher: Doubleday; Date: Copyright 2010 by Bill Bryson; Pages: 37-38
At Home: A Short History of Private Life; by Bill Bryson by Doubleday; Hardcover ~ Release Date: 2010-10-05
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Every Day Is A New Day

One has to find out for oneself what it means to die;
then there is no fear:   - J.Krishnamurti

How does one find out about this strange thing that we all have to meet one day or another?
Can you die psychologically today, die to everything that you have known?
For instance:
to die to your pleasure, to your attachment, your dependence,
to end it without arguing, without rationalizing,
without trying to find ways and means of avoiding it.
Do you know what it means to die,
not physically, but psychologically, inwardly?
Which means to put an end to that which has continuity;
to put an end to your ambition, because
that's what's going to happen when you die, isn't it?
You can't carry it over and sit next to God!
When you actually die,
you have to end so many things without any argument.
You can't say to death,
"Let me finish my job, let me finish my book,
all the things I have not done,
let me heal the hurts which I have given others" —
you have no time.
So can you find out how to live a life now, today,
in which there is always an ending to everything that you began?
Not in your office of course, but inwardly
to end all the knowledge that you have gathered —
knowledge being your experiences, your memories, your hurts,
the comparative way of living, comparing yourself always with somebody else.
To end all that every day,
so that the next day your mind is fresh and young.
Such a mind can never be hurt,
and that is innocence.
One has to find out for oneself what it means to die;
then there is no fear,
therefore every day is a new day —
and I really mean this, one can do this —
so that your mind and your eyes see life as something totally new.
That is eternity.
That is the quality of the mind that has come upon this timeless state,
because it has known what it means to die every day
to everything it has collected during the day.
Surely, in that there is love.
Love is something totally new every day,
but pleasure is not;
pleasure has continuity.
Love is always new and therefore, it is its own eternity.

Seekers of Ultimate Mystery

by  Fr. Thomas Keating

Every seeker of Ultimate Mystery has to pass through interior death and rebirth, perhaps many times over.  Our contemporary world desperately needs persons of boundless generosity who dedicate themselves to great ideals and who wish to transform themselves and contribute to the transformation of the world.  A great vision is what gives ordinary daily life its direction and invests it with purpose.

Seekers of Ultimate Mystery have to share in the agony of our time.  Only trust can make this experience transforming for themselves and for others.  As the sense of alienation from Ultimate Mystery, from human values, and from oneself is very deep in our time, so also participation in that experience is bound to be very deep.  It may involve an inner poverty so intense and so complete that no word can describe it, except “death.”  But this spiritual death leads to an inner resurrection of one’s true self that can move not only oneself, but the whole human family in the direction of transformation.  From this perspective, the spiritual journey is the very reverse of selfishness. It is rather the journey to selflessness.

What needs to be emphasized by seekers today is the contemplative dimension of human nature, whether they identify the aim of their search as liberation, transformation, enlightenment, nirvana, divine union or whatever. […] The growth of the contemplative dimension leads to the stable perception of the presence of Ultimate Mystery underlying and accompanying all reality as a kind of fourth dimension to ordinary sense perception.  To dispose oneself for this awareness, one needs a discipline that engages all the faculties and a structure appropriate to one’s life circumstances that can sustain it.

To begin with, one needs to cultivate a practical conviction of the primacy of being over doing.  Our society values what one can do and this becomes the gauge of who one is.  The contemplative dimension of life is an insight into the gift of being human and inspires a profound acceptance and gratitude for that gift. […]

Our culture is at a critical point because so many structures that supported human and religious values have been trampled upon and are disappearing. To find a way to discover Ultimate Mystery in the midst of secular occupations and situations is essential, because for most people today it is the only milieu that they know.  Humanity as a whole needs a breakthrough into the contemplative dimension of life.  The contemplative dimension of life is the heart of the world.  There the human family is already one.  If one goes to one’s own heart, one will find oneself in the heart of everyone else, and everyone else, as well as oneself, in the heart of Ultimate Mystery.
– Fr. Thomas Keating in Contemplative Outreach newsletter, June 2010

Guru-Sishya Relationship

Guru Stotram - slokam 2

om ajnaana-timiraandhasya / jnanaanjana-shalaakaya
caksur-unmilitam yena / tasmai shri-gurave namah

Salutation (namah) to that (tasmai) Guru (gurave) by whom (yena) the eyes (cakshur) blinded (andhasya) by the darkness (timira) of ignorance (agnyana) were opened (unmilitam) with the collyrium (anjana)-sharp pencil (shalakaya) of knowledge (gnyana).

Salutations to that Guru who applies the collyrium of knowledge with a sharp needle to open the eyes of those blinded due to ignorance (lack of spiritual knowledge). The purpose of approaching the Master is explained beautifully in this second verse of the Guru Stotram -
ajnana- timirandhasya jnananjana shalakaya.

Every action of ours is directed to achieve certain end-results; we are happy when we are successful and unhappy when fail to achieve the intended result. Life consists of a series of transactions intended for our sukha praapti ; but many times, there is only dukha and we feel disappointed and dissatisfied. Ramana Maharishi in his Upadesa Saram has compared this sorry state of affairs to falling repeatedly into the ocean of samsara and has suggested self-inquiry as a way out to derive permanent satisfaction in our lives. Those who need help have to seek a Guru.

By middle age, when our dissatisfaction grows and we feel lost like one blinded due to absence of the light of relevant knowledge, we approach a Guru and seek his guidance to gain gnyana drishti for leading life in a manner conducive to yield a steady, happy state of the mind which will not be easily affected by set-backs and failures.. In other words, every effort that we make is for sukha-praapti, to reach a state of satisfaction, contentment and fulfillment, but the goal is not always achieved despite our best efforts.

It is then that we realize that due to lack of knowledge, due to our agnyana, we are presently mired in this condition seeing no way out. At this stage, we proceed to seek a Guru as advised in Kathopanishad:
 praapya varaan nibodhata
The Guru stotram describes the resulting relationship between the Guru and the disciple.

The Guru is the Master who can remove the obstacle of ajnana. But it is not as simple as removing  something that is covering what is underneath. It is a very tricky process since there is nothing really to be taken out; what is required is a transformation in us that is necessary. The Guru-doctor applies the ointment (anjana) of knowledge to our affected eye and restores the sight – he grants us the gift of gnyana drishti.

The Master's role is similar to that of a sculptor, who uses his hammer and chisel to unlock the hidden potential in a stone. If the stone could communicate with us in words, it will describe the great pain it suffers with every stroke, every blow of the chisel and hammer. Finally, it seems that the torture has come to an end. The sculptor leaves the stone alone for many days. Then one day he returns and starts rubbing the surface of the stone with sand-paper to get rid of even the smallest of imperfections. The stone starts feeling, "I thought everything was done. Why is he torturing me like this again?"

But after having undergone this tortuous process, a beautiful murti emerges from the stone; the real glory of the stone is finally expressed. It is then installed in a temple. It becomes elated because it starts receiving flower garlands, it starts receiving alankara. The sculptor's vision created from a piece of shapeless stone a beautiful art-piece that is worthy of being worshipped. But to reach that state the stone had to undergo the process of chiseling, and fine refinements.

The stone acknowledges to the sculptor: "What a great opportunity you have given me to bring out the best in me!" And in all humility the sculptor replies: "I have done nothing. The potential always existed in you. All I have done is to remove that which was blocking the expression of your potential". If we substitute the words Master for the sculptor and disciple for the stone, we can fully understand the roles of the Master and his disciple.

The relationship between the two is beyond human understanding or expression in words. When we talk of the highest in love, we talk of the natural love of a mother for the children she has given birth to. The love and care of the Master for the student is born out of a deep sense of duty and responsibility that he has voluntarily accepted so that the student may reach the spiritual state in which he himself revels.

His efforts to remove the ajnana, which are so painful for the disciple in the beginning, are intended for the purpose that the student can reach and enjoy the same kind of bliss that the Master is enjoying - nothing less. For, in the field of spirituality, either there is perfection or there is nothing - nothing in the middle. The Master directs all his efforts to help his disciple reach that state of perfection.

The Master is not going to change our lives or our environment; he is not going to change the world that we live in. The Master is only changing our vision, our perception of the world in its as is state. It is not the srishti that has to be changed, it is the drishti that has to change, and the Guru is the person who takes pains in changing that drishti. Here is a person who, with all love and concern, tries to tune our body, mind and intellect and dispel the darkness that we are living in so that we can understand the truth. He blesses us with that vision, drishti, so that, staying in the same srishti, we can enjoy the bliss and glory which is an expression of the Lord.

In order to do this, the Guru has to wipe the slate of our mind clean and create a disciple out of us. Guru is thus Brahma, Guru is Vishnu, and Guru Himself is Mahesvara. Guru is nothing but that absolute truth and happiness which we are searching for. Why is the Guru called Brahma? Why is the Guru called Vishnu? Why is the Guru called Maheshvara? Because in spite of who we are, it is the Guru's mission to create a disciple out us. That is no easy task. It requires total surrender by the sishya to the Guru.

Sishya is defined as —Saasanaat sisyate yah sah sishya - the one who remains in disciplined mode, who is ready for any kind of discipline that is expected by the Master. Or, to put it in very simple words, the one who has accepted the fact that he is going to be disciplined and changed. This is where the concept of sharanagati comes into play. When the Master tells the student to do something, there should be no resistance from the student like, -- "but Sir"…absolutely no choice. It took the Lord Himself all the chapters in the Gita to create a disciple out of Arjuna whom He knew very well. It is the Master's responsibility to create that discipleship in us.

The grace of the Guru expresses itself in every seeker's life as jnana and sakti - the knowledge as well as the capacity to use that knowledge at the right moment at the right time. Jnana-sakti-samaarudah, tattva-mala-vibhushitah. A very beautiful picture of the Master has been painted here. Jnana-sakti-samarudhah, he is samarudah, he enters our life integrating these two things; he bestows upon us, he blesses us with these two things - jnanam ca saktim ca. He blesses us with knowledge and also the capacity to use that knowledge in the correct place, in the correct environment; he builds in us the awareness of the knowledge.

When we listen to Vedanta discourses, we tend to feel that we already know these principles. But knowledge lies not merely in knowing, but also in applying that knowledge, or having the shakti, the saamarthya, the capacity to do so in the right place and at the right moment.
Note:
The text above is an extract from : http://www.chinmayasaaket.org/articles/uddhav/tasmai_sri_gurave_namah.pdf  

ON MILK_ABHISHEKAM IN TEMPLES

पत्रं पुष्पं फलं तोयं यो मे भक्त्या प्रयच्छति

patram, pushpam phalam, toyam
yo me bhaktya prayacchati - Sri Krishna
 =================================

"Milk for Abhishekam in temples is a divine offering; let us ensure it is pure, derived from happy cows free to roam in green pastures, eating pesticide-free grass, not from cows confined in narrow stalls, fed high-energy grains and restaurant scraps and injected with growth hormones and  antibiotics"   -- Aparna Hasling

The following is the text of an article by Aparna Hasling in SriVidya magazine, New York :

"I would like to introduce Eco Vidya, the term I have used to identify an environmental version of Sri Vidya. In this modern  age it is ever more important to re-examine the source of  our offerings and determine which of our ritual actions may unknowingly be harmful to the Divine Mother, our Mother Earth. It is not enough to just be vegetarian; we should also consider the effect of  our purchases at the grocery store. It is time that our temple considers  using alternatives to pasteurized  milk.

Milk abhishekam has been a divine act of devotion for thousands of years within the Hindu  tradition. Our ancient scriptures explain that milk is amritam from a divine being, and so it is respectful to pour it on a deity. But those words were written in an age when milk was pure and cows freely roamed  green pastures and ate pesticide-free grass.Today, the milk we buy comes from  agribusinesses,  places that house thousands of cows in confinement dairies, where stalls are sometimes welded shut, where cows are fed high-energy grains and restaurant scraps, and are injected with growth hormones and  antibiotics. Cows are not permitted  their natural grass diet; they are fed only to maximize milk production and minimize cost. These mistreated cows are subject to frequent illnesses and infections; the milk they produce reflects their own health in that their milk must be sterilized before it is sold for human consumption. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration of the United States) demands that milk be pasteurized. This modern technique was not needed when cows were healthy. In 1888 Louis Pasteur  invented a system of heating milk in order to kill bacteriaâ€"but it killed the potentially harmful bacteria as well as the healthy bacteria needed to bolster the immune system.

The cow on the left lives freely in Devipuram, where it is allowed to roam around and graze. Many private, family farms in North America allow their cows the same natural life. But factory farms (like the one on the right) keep their animals in cruel conditions, where they sometimes don't even have enough room to move their legs or sit down.

This technique started as a temporary solution to the problem of contaminated milk in overcrowded cities without refrigeration or adequate sanitation. Raw milk was understood by all parties to be preferred, but unfortunately the focus has never turned back from heating diseased milk to producing and distributing healthy, raw milk.By purchasing hundreds of gallons of pasteurized  milk, we are using our consumer dollars to empower these harmful practices. It is as if we are saying --yes, we want cheap milk at any cost. Agribusiness then responds to our demands by putting more cows on smaller plots, and tormenting them in unspeakable ways to produce more milk. It is our responsibility to advocate for the sisters of Nandi.

The milk-giving cow is the most sacred animal in Hindu religion. She is often understood as the symbol of sustainable life, as well as of the cosmos: her legs are compared to the four Vedas, her eyes to the sun and the moon, her horns to the mountains, and her udders to the oceans. Milk from healthy cows is extremely nutritious for children and is said to delay the aging process in adults. From milk, we make butter, ghee, and yogurt. Even the dung a healthy cow produces can be beneficial and contains ammonia which can eliminate pathogenic bacteria in the home. It can also be burned for cooking fuel instead of timber.

The cow is a symbol of sustainable life. For millennia, the Indian culture has relied on the sacred cow, and now she needs our help.Yes, milk abhishekam has been a divine act of devotion for thousands of years. But it is time to rethink our basic ritual formulas. Please offer abhishekam with anything except milk from cows raised on factory farms: - raw milk, diluted coconut milk, fruit juice, turmeric water, rose water or river water. In doing so, the temple will make a bold statement and serve as an example for the community to become advocates for our Divine Mother Earth."
==========================
My comment:
We take care to prepare Prasadam-offerings like pongal etc with madi in madappalli to ensure purity and respect to the temple deity. Sabari tasted the fruits before offering to Sri Rama. Why don't we examine the milk for fitness to offer it with Bhakti to the Lord? - This is also the theme of the famous Bhajan:

Krishna Govinda Gopala Gaate Raho
Krishna Govinda Gopala Gaate Raho

Log kehte hai bhagwaan aate nahi …
Draupadi ki tarah tum bulate nahi…
Krishna Govinda Gopala gaate raho

Log kehte hai bhagwan khaate nahi…
Shabari ki tarah tum khilate nahi…
Krishna Govinda Gopala gaate raho

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The Metaphysics of Nothing

Gita - Ch.II Sloka 16

नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः।। 2.16 ।।

nāsatō vidyatē bhāvō nābhāvō vidyatē sataḥ.
ubhayōrapi dṛṣṭō.ntastvanayōstattvadarśibhiḥ..2.16..

The unreal hath no being; there is non-being of the real;
the truth about both has been seen by the knowers of
the Truth (the seers of the Essence). - Swami Sivananda

The verse from the Bhagavad Gita (2:16) is part of the argument that Krishna makes to Arjuna for the immortality of the self. As with Parmenides, the point is that something cannot come from nothing or become nothing. We do not get any consideration, however, why a person does not disappear in the same way that wood can be burned into ash and smoke. For that, we need the background of the Upanishads and Vedânta, that the world itself is only a content of consciousness, the consciousness of the ultimate Self, Brahman. As the Chândogya Upanishad says,
Tat tvam asi , "Thou art that."

In death, as in sleep,
"it is not the self that goes away into oblivion, it is the world."

Above is an extract from:  The Metaphysics of Nothing

---

Gita-slokam commentary by Swami Sivananda:

The changeless, homogeneous Atman or the Self always exists. It is the only solid Reality. This phenomenal world of names and forms is ever changing. Hence it is unreal. The sage or the Jivanmukta is fully aware that the Self always exists and that this world is like a mirage. Through his Gnyanachakshus or the eye of intuition, he directly cognises the Self. This world vanishes for him like the snake in the rope, after it has been seen that only the rope exists. He rejects the names and forms and takes the underlying Essence in all the names and forms, viz., Asti-Bhaati-Priya or Sat-chit-ananda or Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Hence he is a Tattva-darshi or a knower of the Truth or the Essence.
What is changing must be unreal. What is constant or permanent must be real. -- Sivananda

Positive Thinking & FAITH

 

QUOTES

On Positive Thinking

The Universe is constantly listening to our thoughts.

We must learn to maintain positive thoughts in our mind,
if we want the Universe to help us.

*

When you have come to the edge of all the light you have
And step into the darkness of the unknown
Believe that one of the two will happen to you:
Either you'll find something solid to stand on
Or you will be taught how to fly.

*

When all your efforts end in failure,
it means that you are being taught the lesson
that, not your own efforts,
but God's Grace alone can bring success.
And you should seek His Grace.

On FAITH:

Faith is the nearest English equivalent to the Sanskrit word Shraddha;

it endows us with great value in life.

It is the set of values, axioms, prejudices, and pre-possessions
that colours our perceptions, governs our thinking,

dictates our responses, and shapes our lives generally

without our even being aware of its presence and power.

Shraddha is not an intellectual abstraction;

it is our very substance.

*

Bhagavd Gita - Chapter17 slokam 3:

श्रद्धामयोऽयं पुरुषो यो यच्छ्रद्धः स एव सः।।17.3।।

"As a person's faith is, so is he"

     The Bible, using similar words, says:

     "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."

*

There is nothing passive about Shraddha.

It is full of potency.

For it prompts action, conditions behaviour, and

determines how we perceive and thus
respond to the world around us.

*

The power to heal or harm is inherent in our ideas of ourselves.

Yet Shraddha is not brute determination or wishful thinking.

Our lives are an eloquent expression of our beliefs of

what we deem worth having, doing, attaining, being.

What we strive for shows what we value.

We back our Shraddha with our time, our energy, our very lives.

Thus Shraddha determines destiny.

*

As the Buddha put it:

"All that we are is the result of what we thought.
We are made of our thoughts,

We are moulded by our thoughts."

*

As we think, so we become.

yat bhaavam tat bhavati