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The Art of Living: Food, Body, and Mind

An introductory lecture on diet, health, and spiritual practice at a summer retreat.

"During these many days here... do not think like a tourist, concentrating only on eating. What we gain here is a rich diet. It is the diet of wisdom."

"If you cook good vegetarian food with proper spices, then you or your husband will forget completely the meat taste. It is so tasty and so rich, but you should learn that."

Swami Maheshwarananda opens the retreat with a talk emphasizing sattvic (pure) vegetarian cooking as essential for physical and mental well-being. He humorously critiques Western vegetarian diets, explains the importance of spices and proper cooking (Pākaśāstra), and advises on mindful yoga practice, illustrating the need to befriend the body and mind with a parable about taming a wild horse.

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Deepnan Bhagavānakī, Devī Swarmanādevakī, Mādhavakrishṇa Bhagavānakī, Sanātana Dharmakī. Good morning to everybody. I congratulate you all on having had a very nice Guru Pūrṇimā celebration over the past two days, Friday and Saturday. You had the opportunity to see your guru brothers and sisters from different parts of the world. Now we begin our usual summer retreat seminar. This seminar has become a traditional retreat here in the Střílky ashram because the whole family can come. There is a place for children, enough space to run and play. For parents, it is also very good and relaxing, and it leaves a good impression on your children. We have all different kinds of programs: spiritual anuṣṭhāna, Kriya Anusaṅghāna, our normal āsana and prāṇāyāma program, what we call Haṭha Yoga kriyās, satsaṅgs, and lectures on spirituality and yoga philosophy. It is a very rich program. If you learn all this and utilize it for yourself, you will gain much spiritual development. So you have to learn, think over, and follow. If someone doesn’t follow and goes away from here only to do the same things again, then, of course, it is a pity. During these many days here, for our physical and mental relaxation, retreat, and rehabilitation, do not think like a tourist, concentrating only on eating. Ale nebuďte jako turisti, kteří se soustředí jenom na jídlo a na to, aby si užili zábavu. What we gain here is a rich diet. It is the diet of wisdom. Sāttvik. Falahārī means Sāttvik food. A je tu velice čisté, prosté jídlo, kterému se říká falahārī, jinými slovy to znamená čisté jídlo, sāttvické jídlo, vegetariánské. Generally, there is one problem for people in the West. When they think they are vegetarian, the problem is they don’t know what to cook or how to cook. And when they cook, it’s not edible—either too much salt, too much chili, or no taste. We have the sixteen vidyās, sixteen kinds of knowledge. One of those is called Pākaśāstra, cooking. This is a chapter, a complete philosophical chapter on what and how to cook. Nowadays, unfortunately, humans have lost this cooking talent because of so many restaurants and all the junk food. So, you people who follow a vegetarian diet, what do you do at home? Butter, bread, cheese, yogurt, milk, and sometimes fruit. Think now: butter, cheese, milk, yogurt—all are the same, only a little different. Cheese is concentrated milk. Butter is also a concentrated part of the milk. And yogurt is a sleeping milk. No, Hungarian says, "Sleeping milk." True. So all that, and bread. A lot of bread. No wonder your body cannot grow anymore in height, but can grow sideways. There is no more space to go up, but thanks to the neighbors, they allow you to expand. This is completely opposite to a proper vegetarian diet. We need milk for its production of calcium and certain nutrition, but we need vegetables, different kinds of grains, different kinds of lentils. In everything, the spices are the most important thing. Spices will keep your body very healthy. And spices means not only chili. Chili is only one of them. Chili means that kind of hot, which is what you call hot paprika. A small, hot chili is dangerous, harmful, and can cause intense stomach cancer. The best is to consume Hungarian hot paprika, which has a thick fruit. We don’t say the thick flesh meat, you know. In German, they say thick fruit flies, but we don’t say flies. Meat, they say meat. We say giri. Giri is something like a nut; it is the thick part of the fruit. So thanks to Hungarian science that we have nice paprika, and that’s why Hungarian lecho is very famous. Whoever went to Hungary and didn’t eat lecho was not in Hungary. So, hot paprika lecho with a little rice inside, or rice and lecho, or bread and lecho. A very, very good thing in this is that in this way we support the Hungarian economy. But one problem is that many Hungarians, to make their paprika more tasteful, put artificial color inside. I hope some Hungarians are listening through the webcast and will request with a letter to the government to prohibit adding artificial color to make paprika more red and colorful. How many Hungarians are sitting here? My God, about 40% are Hungarians here. Thank you. So, all of you should write a letter to your agriculture department and commerce department of the government, and prime ministers, because now you see the Hungarian paprika market went down. But tell them there is someone who is supporting. Cooking, eating—this is always our main subject, our favorite theme. Anyhow, let’s go away from this. You should learn how to cook. The majority here are women, of course, and there are many men today, I see, more than women. Nowadays, you never know if it’s a man or a woman because both are dressed the same. There are some men who shave three times a day and then put some powder. So you never know from a far distance if you should say, "Hi, hello, ma’am," or "Hello, sir." One day I was walking through Vienna Street in ’76, and two men were unloading something from a truck. I had nice long hair and a long orange dress, and I just passed, and one man said, "Oh, beautiful Indian lady," and another said, "No, no, it’s a man." So they were, how to call it, they were saying, "Then, geez, who will be winning?" They made some noise, and I looked like this, and they were disappointed because of the beard. So sometimes beard and mustache protect you from certain things. But I mean, to be a woman is not bad. Maybe they are more developed than the men, that they are more highly developed. They have no hair here, but men have, like a monkey still. So it will, in time, come that they will not get more hair. So ladies are more high. But we are content as it is. Even the beer is there, no? Anyhow, therefore, when the ladies go home, this is the main problem which I am talking to all people who turn themselves towards a vegetarian diet. They come home and explain to their husband that from today onward, I am vegetarian. He asks why, and she explains correctly. A good husband says, "OK, very nice." She says, "But you should also become vegetarian." The good husband says, "Yes, of course." But when she cooks vegetarian food, one day it’s okay. One day he says, "Oh yes, very tasteful, good." The next day he will say, and the third day he will invite her to a restaurant. And on the fourth day, he himself will try to go and cook. So someone told me in America, they said, "A good husband dies in the kitchen." Anyhow, why is your husband not content with you? It’s not that he doesn’t love you, but one of the parts of our life, our desire, is eating. We don’t say it doesn’t matter what we eat. But it does matter what and how we eat. Therefore, if you cook good vegetarian food with proper spices, then you or your husband will forget completely the meat taste. It is so tasty and so rich, but you should learn that. It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. This is vidyā, this is knowledge, pākaśāstra, the philosophy of cooking. So we are now spoiled; we lost our knowledge. We just bring the packed food home, put it in the refrigerator, take it out, microwave it, put it on the table, and then into the stomach. That’s not healthy. I can tell you, because of the cooking problem between husband and wife, when one becomes vegetarian and one does not, sooner or later a question comes: "I think we should divorce." And that’s because one is not used to other things. But it does not mean that all ladies are like this here. You are very good. You cook nice. What? Dumplings. But every day your husband cannot eat dumplings. Apple pie is okay, but many things are different. You should learn. So eating is part of our life. Someone said, "We eat for living, we don’t live for eating." Some people live for eating, and there comes quarreling. So if you want to live for eating, it’s wrong. But if you eat something for living, then it’s right. And that means, then, try to have that nutrition, and nutrition everything has in this vegetation. From where a rabbit gets nutrition, he doesn’t take vitamin pills, or the horse, or cow, or elephant. All these vegetarian creatures, so in vegetable is everything. But we are spoilt, we are spoiled. For something missing, immediately we take the tablets, and in this way we destroyed our health condition. So we have to come back to nature, I think so. Healthy means not only strong muscles or something like this. If you want to know about a healthy bodybuilder, then you know, we have five or six disciples who are bodybuilders and vegetarians. One of our Hanumān Purī from Rijeka is living in India now. He is a bodybuilder and trainer. In Croatia there was a competition, and he won the silver medal. On his t-shirt was written, "Proud to be vegetarian." Many journalists came to him. "Are you really vegetarian?" So he said, "What do you think about that?" So there is a lot of strength. Everything is there. But you should know what. There are nuts, dairy products, raw sugar, different grains, and instructions on how to cook them. That’s important. That keeps your mind and body very fresh. So again, I come to the point that you should utilize the spices. But spices means little, very little. It’s not the quantity, it’s the quality. There is a fine vibration in the spices which influences certain organs, glands, and hormones, like homeopathic medicine. There is nothing inside, but there are original medicine’s vibrations. And that is important. So, like homeopathy, like that, we should have the spices. Many illnesses are coming nowadays: schizophrenia, depression, and many other illnesses. This is transferred from animals to humans through eating the meat and animal fats. And because nowadays the milk animals, the cows and buffaloes and goats, are artificially fed, therefore, also, this dairy production, unfortunately, is not 100% pure as it should be. So, this is the thing I want to tell you today. This seminar, what we will have now, is to regenerate our body systems and get rid of stress from the mind. But if you have stress—"Did I get enough salad? I told them I’m from Falahari, so why do I have potatoes inside? No, it is cold. I told them I am only lacto-vegetarian, but they didn’t put any yogurt and so on. I am only vegan"—so this creates stress. Not only in your kitchen, people and their stress goes into the food, and that food creates more stress for you. Therefore, take it as it is, and basta. Hari Om. Ānando’ham. Nāham. Kartā. Prabhudhipā kartā. Čili máte hezké jídlo a hezká cvičeň. Teď vám řeknu, jak cvičit. This morning, I saw some people were practicing āsanas on the meadow. They were doing it too quickly. Do it slowly, and concentrate. Concentrate. It means you should feel your body. There is one exercise for what you call the artists, the champions. They see only their goal, and therefore they are running and running. They don’t know what is happening in the body. Only they want to. "I must go there quickly." That’s it. But you are not that one. You have nowhere to go. So just feel what happens to your body. Which muscle, which ligament, which organ, which joint, what’s happening? And slowly, that would be very correct and very good. And that is yoga in daily life. That’s called the psychosomatic movements. It means body and mind together. Then you become master of your movements, master of your body. Tak se stanete mistrem svých pohybů, mistrem svého těla. A pokud se budete dávat sami takovéto pokyny, tak se vám z těla stane dobrý přítel. A pak můžete i svému tělu dát pokyn, tam v tom bodě musíš být jako první. Tělo vám odpovíd, nedělej si starosti, příteli. Uvolní se. Já to přebírám. A budete tam. But it is about befriending the body. One svāmījī told a nice, psychological story. There was a horse. This horse was very wild. You would say, "Uneducated horse." No one could ride him. You couldn’t catch him. Whenever you come near, he shows his back. So never go to the horse from behind, and never go in front of any car which is started. And never show your back to the tiger or lion. Never run away. If a tiger attacks you, don’t run. Stand. When you stand, 50% of the tiger’s aggression will go down. And when you make it so, 20% goes more down. Then the tiger will turn his tail. The ego is offended. But if you show your back, he will attack you. So don’t go from behind the horse. The owner of the horse said, "The horse is beautiful. It’s a real breed. Someone who can train him, I will give him $500,000." The best riders all failed. The best rider and the best psychologist of the horse came directly to the orthopedic hospital, not home. So there was one man who came, and he said, "Okay, I need one month." The owner said, "You’re in six months, no problem. But train him, make him very soft." So he went to the field where the horse was. He didn’t do anything, nothing. He went a little nearer, fifty meters, and sat there the whole day. When the horse went far, he also went far. So he just moved beside him far. After ten days, he tried to bring some nice grass from somewhere, sweet grass. And he put it near where the horse ran away, but it doesn’t matter. He just put it there. After a few days, the horse used to come and eat that. So still he didn’t try to catch the horse. Then he brought some water in a big pot and was putting water like this, and the horse was looking. But he didn’t invite the horse at all. Another 15 days. My God. Now a month is going over already. But he knew that the owner gave six months. Ale ten člověk věděl, že má od toho majitele koně šest měsíců. A teď ten člověk zkoušel odejít, poodejít. A kůň se za ním díval a přiblížil se k němu. A člověk si sedl a kůň se začal poblíž pást. A pak zase popošel ten člověk, a kůň se začal odejít. One day he didn’t come, and the horse was always looking and always restless. After two days, he came and he only stood like this. And horse-white eating came near, and he was standing. And the horse was standing 20 meters far, and the horse made like this, went away. He remained, stood there. He went back side, other side. The man and horse came near again. He didn’t come for 5 days, and then he came one day, and the horse came near. And one meter distance, and standing near, and he was just, "How are you? I couldn’t come; I had to go somewhere." Talking with the horse, he went to another tree, and the horse came back. Ten meters far, his horse was grazing. After some days, he brought some nice, sweet, good chocolate. Po pár dnech přinesl nějakou sladkost ten člověk a jenom to tomu koni hodil. Kuň nepřišel, ale ten člověk tam trpělivě stál, a nakonec kuň přišel a snědl tu sladkost. Zkrátka, když to shrnu, za dva a půl měsíce se kůň stal nejlepším přítelem toho muže. That man could do anything he wanted. He was first massaging him, his ears, his legs, and so on, and then he put the saddle on it. And even he could sit on him. The horse allowed him to do everything. The horse gained such confidence, it became a very gentle, beautiful horse. And that is our mind. The wild horse is our mind. And your Viveka is that which will train him now. A nebo vaše tělo je divoký kůň. Čili my můžeme získat cokoliv. Každý může být váš přítel, ale chce to čas. A někdy se někomu nelíbí, když jdete hned rychle. Just sit down, be there, then it gains confidence. Similarly, your body will get confidence. We lost the confidence; our body lost the confidence with us. The body is crying. The body again says, "Oh God, what is this man putting in me now?" God made this machine for water. It’s a water engine, not an alcohol engine. So when you put alcohol in this motor, the body said, "Please, can you use this part of me before you put something inside? Use this part of me." So that’s it. So we shall do something with love, harmony, take time, and don’t go to certain places where they don’t use this part. They can damage your machine. Therefore, we will have some particular exercises every day for a particular purpose. And we will have some lectures too. So now, I wish you all the best. This was the introductory speech today. If someone is offended, please excuse me. Whatever I told, it was good for you, for body, mind, and soul. And also for your partners, learn cooking. Okay? Not paragraph one: "Cut the vegetable in hot water, take it out, and add salt and a little butter, then give it." It’s nothing. We will have a cooking course, too. We have time. Good? Yes. So you have to buy a cooking oven, what you call camping, a little gas oven. And then everyone is spread here. Because only looking doesn’t help. So you have to give instructions, you have to prepare. The big screen. Okay? Very good. So now you have one hour time. Kriyānushṭhān people can go to Kriyānushṭhān. And the rest will all join me. What we will do is top secret. Otherwise, Kriyānushṭhāna will not go away. So you just sit here innocently. So, Kriyā Anuṣṭhān people, hurry home, and dear friends in different parts of this planet who are with us through the webcast, I wish you all the best. Tomorrow’s webcast will be at 11 o’clock.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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