Be happy to eat in constant Divine thought whatever you
get, with due regard to honest and pious earnings.
The philosophy involved in it starts from materiality and ends in the final
state we all have to arrive at. A happy disposition is a state which percolates
its effect upon the lower layers and purifies them. This is a state which may
aptly be taken as that next to the Divine. Fixing our thought on it means taking
into account that which is our final goal. In other words, we begin from the
point beyond which remains but That alone. This is the warp and woof which has
been interwoven by Nature herself. We may call it as a material aspect of
Nature, though materiality be only for name’s sake, which reveals the nature of
the Real Being. The word materiality is used for it only because, after all, it
comes into the human conception. Possibly men may misunderstand it as a veil of
Maya but that would not be correct. This is in fact the state which pervades the
entire sphere of Maya. Now we fix it up in our thought at the time of taking our
food, so the effect filters down on the substance which is there. When we eat
it, the effect taken in by it enters our body and begins to spread all through
our veins and arteries. In other words we have utilised to our best purpose the
thing which we take in from outside. The particles and atoms of the body begin
to get purified. The impulse of thought created thereby combines with the food,
and helps to promote our physical and spiritual health. The power of Prana being
all pervasive, nothing is free from its influence. It is inside the food as well
as outside it. We apply the push of our thought to it, which brings it to a
state similar to that which causes spark by friction, though it is somewhat
different and purer. That which springs up by our contact with Reality leads us
towards Supreme, the power below it not being capable of the job. Human
imagination has no access to it. This paves our way to the Infinite. Thus so
much distance is covered so very easily.
Our rules provide for taking food in the remembrance of God. All our actions
should likewise be such as may be helpful to us in the attainment of the Ideal.
While taking food we fix our thought upon the Ultimate which we have finally to
attain, in order to take in its effect too, and increase our purity all the
more. We have originated from Purity. The pure streams which were the cause of
our coming into being had also originated from the purest Source, and for that
reason the thought of purity persisted in us all through. Never can any impurity
enter into them; not even the ravages of time could affect them in any way. Now
because these currents had come from a very powerful source, they were permeated
with absolute purity. These currents are really the result of the action of the
original stir which had caused the creation and which were perfectly pure.
Whatever came into existence through their medium was also perfectly pure in its
original state. But the influence of time stained their purity and this was the
result of our own actions and doings, as explained under Commandment 4.
The thing got from Nature is very pure because its basis is purity. The thing
earned by man can also remain in a pure state when that is got through pure and
pious means. The influence thereof will affect the nearest layers and help to
purify this human web. This is the reason why sages have laid so much stress
upon honest and pious earnings. |