We have just celebrated Diwali, the Festival of Light, that dispels darkness. And what darkness would that be? The Darkness of ignorance.Most vegetarians celebrate Diwali with sweet relish, in more than one sense. So, this must be the right time to bring on the topic of Varakh, which I myself have conveniently forgotten to remember.
Varakh is the silver foil used on sweets,- most of us know that. Some may not know that these sheets are made by hammering thin sheets of silver between booklets made of a bull's intestines. Therefore, you can be sure that the vegetarian sweet that you eat is bloody soiled physically, and is wholly sinful spiritually. I kind of knew this for a very long time, but chose to forget. There are overloads of sites which you can google for the actual process from guts to taste.
So, what better time to break a bad habit than yesterday? As of yesterday, I have quit Varakh laced sweets. Another small step forward spiritually and one more step backward societally. May Diwali be the occassion for you to light the lamp of conviction within, and dispel the darkness of ignorance, both circumstantial and convenient.
You are not what you don't eat.
If there is one good thing, your blog has done,Praveen, it has made me give up Varakh as of last evening. We were gifted some sweets by friends and realised it had Varakh and therefore required everyone not to consume the sweet- created quite a stir but persuaded everyone with love that this should be discontinued
ReplyDeleteI m waiting for the day I visit Body shop for the other decision in my life- i.e to give up animal tested products
Swamy once asked students- What is Karma?...everyone defined it in terms of action i.e doing . Swamy said "Thoughts" are Karma
Why I write this- We are not only what We don't eat, but equally, "We are not what we don't think!". Put differently, We become Our "thoughts", Our thoughts define our current personality and character
So any change in our thoughts can bring about incredible changes in our lives. Louis Hay in her book- "You can heal your life" writes that we can heal ourself of diabetes, even cancer by changing our thoughts and all diseases and bodily decapacitation is a manifestation of the various negative energies in motion (emotion) in our body- resentment, criticism, guilt, fear and anger all a reflection of our state of unforgiveness. "Whenever we are ill and suffering from any disease or bodily condition", Louis writes stating the course of miracles book," We need to look around and see who is that we need need to forgive!" Many a time it involves none other than forgiving our own selves!
"If we are willing to do the mental work, i.e change our thoughts towards ourselves and others, almost anything can be healed"- Louis writes
If our body can be healed with thoughts, our lives, other's life and the world will definitely become a better place with our thoughts.
Change is more effortless than we thought. A small thought is all is required to change ourselves and the world!
"Watch your thoughts as they become actions, watch your action....."