a journey
anger,
the salt of life,
lust,
the sugar of life,
weapons,
the spice of life,
i sacrifice to the sea,
i destroy the part and
parcel of food I love to eat,
I acquire a new taste,
destroy the beliefs
of the culinary art;
those waves thrashing,
blurring, burning the pure meat
of the vegetables,
swallowing the depth,
clouds gobbling the expanse,
killing the appetite of
a wise gourmet limiting the
discolored lid,
with the libation,
the palate has changed
the look, the smell, and
the oomph of the course
a new threshold,
a new discourse
© supratik 2023
Views: 752
this is interesting, I may be wrong, but I realized there could be a vital connection between our emotional state and the way we taste or perceive things, that the food we eat for example being angry tastes differently, even an apple is flesh for someone angry or violently angry there is satisfaction in cutting the apple in a murdering way if your mind’s eye is focused on an enemy. could be wrong.
no, you are right; in our wisdom traditions, there is a strong link between what you eat (ann, to be pronounced as the ‘un’ in the word ‘under’) and what texture of the skin (tann, to be pronounced as ‘tun’ of the word tunnel, with a soft ‘t’, not like the aspired /t/ in English) you have, and what kind of a mind (man, to be pronounced as ‘mun’ in mundane) you nurse; I have used it as a metaphor, though I know ‘culinary art’ wasn’t a good idea, it’s attacking the image I tried to paint, but I couldn’t… Read more »
that’s a great idea you have there, it is interesting already and can become something big, it certainly made me connect the dots, fasting does nothing if you are lustful or angry it’s your own stomach what you lustfully or angrily control, your intention wouldn’t be beneficial and it’s all about intention. it should be “I am angry so I won’t eat now/today because I will treat my food in a way that is not beneficial” and it should not be “I won’t eat because I am angry and only an empty stomach will teach me a lesson” you then… Read more »
yes! incidentally, I am fasting today! 🙂
Yes, and it applies to cooking and the preparation of food too, doesn’t it.
sure, it does
Much here to ponder, not least the link between what we eat and what we are. I was taught from an early age that food is neither to be wasted nor treated casually. We never eat without first giving thanks; though, I recall Jesus saying that it is not what we put into mouths that defile us, but what comes out of our mouths, but then, he was taking to task the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Anyway, a good one as usual.
Thanking before food is primordial, atheist, agnostic, theist alike. If we try to emulate Jesus, most of our problems will be gone. He is …. I will run into pages, so leave it at that, only one thing, sad that we have tied him up in religion alone, his techniques for living is so beautiful that if we tried to be like Jesus instead of being a Christian, the world’s problems will cease to exist. Anyway, I think I am getting distracted. What I was trying to say was that even in our religion, we have to pray before eating… Read more »
if one feels like saying something before eating aloud then ok, if it’s done silently it’s usually better, if you don’t feel like saying anything check your food, something is very wrong about it or the environment is not good enough for the act of eating or offering food. Sometimes I feel the urge of praying before eating and usually it’s when I eat alone and have prepared it myself. Just a thank you coming from the heart. The ‘you’ in thank you is visualized as someone with the intention to feed me without sacrificing anything in order to do… Read more »
Yes, why not! ☺
This is ‘beauty’, Supratik. I think your food analogy is fine. I have always believed that, and especially not to prepare or cook food when there is anger in your ‘being’. In fact I try whenever I cook or pepare food for others to use unconditional love matras in my mind whilst doing it. We disagree just a little bit on the throwing of salt and sugar into the sea: It does change things. We know it does. It must. It is just that we cannot detect the change. In my mind it doesn’t make it a futile act though.… Read more »
God, or the Almighty, in Rajyoga is compared to the ocean (sea). He is an ocean of seven qualities, viz. happiness, peace, power, love, purity, knowledge (or knowingness), and bliss. The act of throwing the part and parcel of food (salt, sugar, and spice) is metaphorical. But I understand your point of view; there was no way I could make it clear in the text.
I was using the act of throwing salt and/or sugar into the sea as metaphorical too.
You were, I could understand. But you have the absolute right to disagree. I wasn’t able to explain clearly the importance of sacrificing the ‘vikarmas’ into the ocean; I don’t know what your thought process is here Allen, are you disagreeing because you think it’s an unkind act that’d pollute the atmosphere or something? But the poem cannot stand without it. Ajatasatru, a great king, never liked Buddha. However, he was converted when he saw Buddha sitting under a tree in pin drop silence with hundreds of his disciples. He asked Buddha what he wanted from him as gifts. Buddha… Read more »
A wonder! Your polyglot learning is to be savoured. I cast my life into the sea on many an occasion and the sea regurgitated me, telling me that only the pure would be absorbed. I am obviously too damaged to be considered a tasty morsel.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the essence of your succinct, even humorous response. The fact that you are aware of the damage sets you comfortably apart from the ignorant and the unconscious.