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Ayurveda states that a healthy person is one who eats only when hungry. A student once asked, "Master, what do you mean by 'when one is hungry'? When is one truly hungry?" The master replied, "One is hungry when seven-day-old dry bread is as tasty as a soft cake with cream. Then you are hungry; otherwise, you are not." If, after a full meal, you take cake, then cream on the cake, then coffee, then fruit, then cheese, and then more, it means you are not hungry—you are killing yourself. It is a slow suicide, marked by measure and gavel. It is suicide with a knife and fork. That is the cause of all illnesses. Otherwise, Ayurveda says you will not fall ill. Overweight and other conditions are all a result of this. Therefore, the first principle is to eat only half. Ayurveda has its own rule: divide your stomach into four quarters. One quarter is for solid food, one quarter for liquid or water, one quarter for air, and one quarter is to be kept empty—perhaps something good will come and you will need to eat. This means you are ever-hungry; you always have a good appetite. Contrary to this, our stomach and intestines are compact, packed tight like airless parcels. We push so much inside that there is hardly any space left. That is our problem. As Mahāprabhujī said, "To eat less and to forgive—these two things are very hard for humans." The nourishment for goddesses and beings not in physical form but in astral form is smell alone. They are nourished only by fragrance. On the altar, we place flowers for their scent and light agarbatti incense for the smell. We offer the food and then we eat it as prasāda. Therefore, it is said that when you are cooking, you should not taste it yourself beforehand. First, you should offer it to God, thank Him, and then you eat. That food becomes blessed; it becomes prasāda. But mostly, it is ladies who are cooking. They stir the vegetables with a spoon—the same spoon—and think there is too little salt, so they add more. Again, they cut some fruit, make a sandwich, and spread jam on it. This is called being a bhuśara, a cooker. Bhuśara means donkey. Śūkara means pig, the sewer-dweller. They carry the saṃskāras, the karmic impressions, of dogs and pigs within them. Constantly, the tongue—their tongue—is not controlled. If a human being gains control of the tongue, that human can accomplish many things. The tongue is a problem. There was once a fight between the teeth and the tongue. Do you know this story? Do you know of the fight between the teeth and the tongue? There was one tooth that had a very strong pain. The tongue, being nice, went over to the tooth, touching it and asking, "How are you?" The tooth became angry and said, "Don't touch me!" The tongue went away. After half a minute, the tongue went back again, going round and round, asking, "How are you?" and touching and pulling. And the tooth was again crying and screaming, "Don't touch me!" Recording location: Australia, World Peace Tour 2004