Topic

Diet

4 verses from the Bhagavad Gita on diet. Explore teachings across 2 chapters.

All Verses

Chapter 4 • Verse 30 →The Yoga of Knowledge and Renunciation
Apare niyataharah prana-yajnesu juhvati, sarve 'py ete yajna-vido yajna-kshapita-kalmashah

Others, who regulate their eating, offer their life force into the life force as sacrifice. All of these knowers of sacrifice have their impurities cleansed away by sacrifice.

  • •Regulated diet is a spiritual discipline and form of sacrifice
  • •All genuine forms of sacrifice purify the practitioner
  • •Knowledge of yajna in any form cleanses karmic impurities
purificationsacrificeyajnaself-regulation
Chapter 17 • Verse 8 →The Yoga of Threefold Faith
ayuh-sattva-balarogya-sukha-priti-vivardhanah, rasyah snigdhah sthira hridya aharah sattvika-priyah

Foods that increase longevity, vitality, strength, health, happiness, and joy — foods that are juicy, fatty, nourishing, and pleasant — are dear to those in sattva.

  • •Sattvic food promotes physical and mental health, longevity, and joy
  • •Natural, wholesome, nourishing foods are sattvic in quality
  • •Diet is a key factor in cultivating the sattvic mode of being
sattvic foodsattvahealthlongevity
Chapter 17 • Verse 9 →The Yoga of Threefold Faith
katu-amla-lavanaty-ushna-tikshna-ruksha-vidahinah, ahara rajasasyeshta duhkha-sokamaya-pradah

Foods that are bitter, sour, salty, very hot, pungent, dry, and burning are preferred by those in rajas. Such foods cause pain, grief, and disease.

  • •Rajasic food agitates the mind and body and leads to suffering
  • •Overly stimulating foods increase passion and restlessness
  • •Diet directly affects mental states and emotional wellbeing
rajasic foodrajasdiseasepassion
Chapter 17 • Verse 10 →The Yoga of Threefold Faith
yata-yamam gata-rasam puti paryushitam ca yat, ucchistam api camedhyam bhojanam tamasa-priyam

Food that is stale, tasteless, putrid, decomposed, leftover, and impure is dear to those in tamas. Such food degrades consciousness and obscures spiritual clarity.

  • •Tamasic food dulls the mind and promotes inertia and ignorance
  • •Impure or decomposed food reflects and reinforces tamasic consciousness
  • •The quality of food consumed shapes the quality of one's awareness
tamasic foodtamasimpurityinertia