Is food a barrier towards spiritual practice?
 

I got a doubt related to the food of a spiritual practitioner. Is the food taken by a person acts as a barrier towards his spiritual practice?

Few people say non-vegetarian food or any food which creates negative mental imbalance is a not a choice for spiritual practitioners. Is this true? How does it impact?

Please share thoughts.

I think it is different for every person. Most spiritual schools promote vegetarianism or the satvic diet, but some people manage to raise their vibration still eating meat and fish. I think we should listen to our body and avoid extremism.

What is satvic diet? Can you give few examples for this..?

We are all part of a food chain this is natural. Krishnamurti when he went through his kundalini had to eat little bits of meat to ground himself.

The mental baggage that you attach to the idea of eating meat is worse than eating meat it self.
Tibetan buddhists eat meat.Many yogi's eat meat to ground themselves.

I was a vegetarian for 20 years so know the effects it had on me. It made me very spaced out,lack of energy etc. Since i started to eat liver ,kidney, eggs and fish i feel really grounded and feel like ive got my life back.

Sattvic is pure, positive energy. A sattvic diet consists of fresh whole foods in balance for well being - not too much, not too little of anything. Whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables (some raw), nuts and seeds, dairy foods, moderate sweets and proteins and so on. Well prepared (not much frying) and appropriate for the individual constitution.


Xan

1) But they don't kill the animals themselves - bad karma - they get someone else to do it.

2) I've been vegetarian/vegan for far longer than that and am fitter than people half my age.
There's a science to it. If you've got your diet thought out and balanced, there's no problem.
Over 400 million vegetarians in India.

My diet was balanced the problem was it was having a detrimental effect on my life. Maybe people are different some people flurish on a vegan/vegetarian diet others become ill.

It could be down to our genes:smile:

The food chain is very eco-friendly wasting nothing nurishing each other. I do sometimes think if there is a god why has god created the food chain by giving up edible bodies.

This is interesting. It's nice to know that eating meat doesn't necessarily hold you back. I don't know if I imagine this, but sometimes, after a couple of weeks of not eating fish or meat, it's like my ego, or pain body, attacks, and eating meat seems to stop it and I become quite serene again. I don't know if that's because I'm feeding the beast, or whether I need fish and meat on occasion.

This is fascinating. So not eating meat helps to raise vibration, and eating meat grounds you?

Is there no way to remain grounded even though we are raising our vibrations? Is this not necessary on the spiritual path, to have feet on the ground and head in the clouds, so to speak?