PROCEDURE FOR EATING official source: Carya'carya Part 3 cross-references: none this version: is the printed Carya'carya Part 3, 5th edition, version (spelling mistakes only may have been corrected). I.e., this is the most up-to-date version as of the present Electronic Edition. Before eating do vya'paka shaoca properly with cold water. In an extremely cold climate use lukewarm water. The system is: Wash the arms, the face, the legs, the neck and the genital organs. Then, keeping the eyes wide open, hold a mouthful of water and gently splash the eyes a minimum of twelve times. Before sitting down for a meal, invite whatever persons are present around you and share your food with them. If they do not want to share, inquire whether they have enough food with them or not. At the time of eating find a comfortable sitting position. It is better to eat in company than to eat alone. Do not sit down to eat if you are in an angry mood or in a debased frame of mind. If several people are eating together from the same plate, make sure that sick persons do not take part. Otherwise healthy persons may become infected. There is no harm, however, in eating together from the same plate if there is no contagious disease among the participants. Rather, this is a nice thing to see. It is good to take food when the main flow of breath is through the right nostril. Even after meal, it is good if the flow of breath is mainly through the right nostril and continues for some time, because that is the time when the digestive glands start secreting a sufficient quantity of fluids to help digestion. Eating when one is not hungry or only half-hungry is very harmful to the health. So is eating rich food for days together or over-eating tasty and sumptuous food out of greed, or not taking rest after the meal before running off to the office, or filling the stomach with food. All these habits are harmful to the health. (For proper digestion, fill the stomach halfway with food, one quarter with water, and leave one quarter full of air.) After finishing the evening meal take a short walk. This is very beneficial to health. A'ha'rya - In every object of the universe, one of three attributes -- sattva, rajah and tamah -- will always be predominant. So food is also divided into three categories according to the dominancy of the attributes. (1) Sa'ttvika A'ha'ra: All the staple food-grains such as rice, wheat, barley, etc.; all the pulses except masu'r [an orange-coloured lentil] and khesa'ri; all fruits and roots; all kinds of vegetables except violet-coloured carrots, white brinjals [white eggplants], onions, garlic and mushrooms; milk and milk products; all green and leafy vegetables except red puni and mustard. All varieties of spices except garam masala'* and all kinds of sweets, can be taken. * A hot mixture including cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. A sa'ttvika diet is required for those who practise a'sanas. Those who find it difficult to give up the habit of ra'jasika food all of a sudden may eat a piece of haritakii [myrobalan] after the meal. Those who take sa'ttvika food should avoid taking a large quantity of mustard or mustard products. Ra'jasika food-eaters should gradually try to change over to sa'ttvika food and ta'masika food-eaters should try to give up such food as early as possible. For the avadhu'tas and avadhu'tika's of Ananda Marga there is only one kind of food, sa'ttvika food. All foods that are beneficial to both body and mind are considered sa'ttvika. (2) Ra'jasika aha'ra: Any food that is beneficial to the body but is neutral to the mind, or vice versa, is called ra'jasika. Foods that do not fall into the sa'ttvika or ta'masika categories are of ra'jasika nature. In certain countries where there is a heavy snowfall, ra'jasika food can be treated as sa'ttvika and ta'masika food as ra'jasika. (3) Ta'masika a'ha'ra: All kinds of foods which are harmful to either the body or mind and may or may not be harmful to the other are called ta'masika. Stale and rotten food, the flesh of large animals such as cows and buffaloes, and all types of intoxicants, are categorised as ta'masika. Small amounts of tea, cocoa and similar drinks which do not excite a person to the point of losing his/her senses are in the ra'jasika category. The milk of a newly-calved cow, white brinjals, khesa'rii da'l, green vegetables of the type of red puni or mustard are ta'masika. Masu'r da'l cooked for one meal will become ta'masika by the next meal. Meat-eating -- Persons who have a strong desire for eating meat and those who eat meat out of necessity shall eat only meat from a male or castrated animal. No one should knowingly eat the meat of a female animal. One should not eat even a domestic female fowl. Do not kill a fish which is one-fourth or less of its normal adult size. Also, do not kill a fish if it is in its infancy or its pregnancy. For instance, at present the female hilsa' fish of the Indian Ocean is normally pregnant or in its post-delivery state from Sha'radotsava [mid-autumn] to the full moon of the Indian month of Pha'lguna.