Balance and Harmony in Relation to Food and the Nourishment of the Body

0:00 It is a human trait. We tend to oscillate between extremes. Too much or too little seems to be our method of living. Wise men, sages and rishis throughout the ages have counselled moderation in all things. The middle way, the way of balance. These tenets for living are also helpful in our understanding of our physical body and its proper maintenance. Too much eating frequently occurs nowadays through inattention, social pressure, or through habit. We see people who eat while watching television, watching a movie in a theater, attending a sporting event, or who are scrolling on their mobile devices without monitoring or controlling portion size.

0:54 They are not paying attention to what they are eating nor how much they are eating. It is a mechanical reflex that occurs while the mind is occupied elsewhere. In many cases, there's a subtle pressure to join with family and friends in a social eating event such as a holiday meal or some form of celebration. Many times guests are plied with food beyond reasonable limits to show some form of welcoming goodwill. In some cases, food becomes a substitute for other forms of desire that are being suppressed, such as when sexual energy is repressed and the social environment provides no outlet for that force and it has not been transformed or transmuted.

1:43 In such cases, we see the vital pressure channelled into eating food. In some cultures, the social status of a heavyweight represents financial success and thus is seen as positive. In other cultures, particularly those that consume large amounts of highly processed foods that are inexpensive, overweight is a sign of lack of wealth rather than prosperity. There is often a greed for food that is either based in former experience, social pressure, or in becoming accustomed to food that builds some form of addictive response within the being.

2:25 A major snack food brand in the USA even uses the tagline Can't Eat Just One to signify and reinforce its addictive characteristics. Young children are trained to crave certain tastes as part of a reward cycle their families utilize. This habit continues through a lifetime in many cases. Those who lead a more sedentary life, either through career pressures or, for spiritual seekers, a focus on long times of meditation. There can be a tendency to take in more calories than are being burned, and thus they may tend to put on weight.

3:09 Similarly, as people age, they may experience a change in their metabolic rate and thus utilize less calories than they are habitually used to consuming. Thus, they may put on weight as they age if they are not able to adjust the caloric intake suitably to the change in metabolic function. On the other side of this, there is a strong social pressure, particularly through the mass media and film industries, for people to appear thin. When this pressure comes up against the opposing tendency for weight gain, there can be events of extreme dieting, anorexia and bulimia which weaken the frame. Some spiritual traditions include fasting and strict dietary restrictions as part of their framework of discipline in an attempt to school the vital and physical being to temper their demands and expectations, and this can lead to a framework that is unduly weakened.

4:15 With all the pressures on both sides and the amount of unconscious eating that takes place, it is difficult for most people to find a suitable balance. A middle way. By understanding these various pressures and through observation as a separate witness consciousness, the seeker can gain mastery over these impulses and instead utilize a more balanced approach both as to caloric intake and quality of the food being eaten to ensure the body gets what it needs in the right amounts and in the right way. A major factor will be to eat with attention and avoid the unconscious intake of food that occurs through a focus that is directed elsewhere at the time of eating, Triorrobindo notes quote.

5:12 Too much eating makes the body material and heavy eating too little makes it weak and nervous. One has to find the true harmony and balance between the body's need and the food taken. End Quote Reference Sri Orobindo and the Mother Looking from Within, Chapter 5. Attitudes on the Path, page 167.