• From 7 pm at Vedanta Hall for Meditation
• OR From 7.30 pm join via    ZOOM (Link)

Group discussion led by Pravrajika Sridharaprana, a senior nun of Sri Sarada Math of the Ramakrishna Order.

Study of Chapter 17 Continues: 

Three Kinds of Faith:
Verses 8 – 10

Discussion Themes: 

• THE THREE TYPES OF FOOD: To live a more spiritual life, we are encouraged to pay attention to what we take in. The sounds and images we experience, the words we read, and the people we spend time with all shape our thoughts, emotions, and the energy we give off.

• WHILE BEING alert to all these, we should also be aware of the quality of the food we consume. In our younger years, with roaring digestion and boundless energy and appetite, we’re more interested in quantity than quality of food entering our mouths. But as we mature, physically and spiritually, we’re compelled to seek out food that sustains our physical health. In verses 8-10 of chapter 17 of the Gita, food quality is classified according to the three Gunas. Sattva: Purity, Rajas: Passion, Tamas: Inertia.

• SATTVIC FOOD: the purest food ‘augments vitality, energy, strength, health and cheerfulness ‘. Rajasic foods are ‘bitter, sour, saline, excessively hot, pungent, dry, and burning’. Tamasic foods are ‘stale, tasteless, stinking, cooked overnight, refuse, and impure’.

• THE BASIC RULES for eating wholesome Sattvic food are simple and can benefit everyone. By choosing fresh, unprocessed foods and staying active, we can build a healthy mind and body to handle whatever life brings.

• SLOW FOOD MOVEMENT: Another option is to join the ‘slow food movement’, started by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986. This movement stands against fast food and a rushed lifestyle. It supports healthy, seasonal food produced cleanly, fair prices for growers, the preservation of food traditions and farming methods, and local businesses.

Learn more in the Discussion

Bhagavad Gita:

We’re exploring a spiritual classic that’s enriched cultures throughout Asia over the centuries and inspired leading figures in modern times from Mohandas Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Carl Jung, and Aldous Huxley to astronaut Sunita Williams who took a copy of the Bhagavad Gita to the international space station.

We’re dipping into Swami Ranganathananda’s 3 volume commentary: Universal Message of the Bhagavad Gita. The late President of the Ramakrishna Order, the Swami was a world thinker and cultural ambassador for India, sponsored by the Government to travel to over 50 countries around the world giving lectures.