The Taste Divine Indian Vegetarian Cooking the Natural Way

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says, Annath Bhavanthi Bhuthani- "all living creatures originate from food." Since all living creatures originate from food, it is the very "stuff" of our bodies. The mind-the controlling agent of life – is strongly affected by the condition of the body. For these reasons, the spiritual seeker cannot afford to ignore the effects of food on his or her state of consciousness.

As Lord Krishna rightly pointed out, a pure or sattvic diet of bland, nutritious vegetarian food not only ensures good health and longevity, but also bestows a calm and peaceful mind. The present-day world is gradually coming to realize the truth of the Lord's words pronounced nearly five thousand years ago. More and more people are coming to see that a natural vegetarian diet is conducive to a long life, and that it is better to take food "as your medicine," as Hippocrates said, than to eat in an unnatural manner and then resort to drugs to cure the resulting condition.

In the Bhagavad Gita, it is said that "from the supreme being was born the extremely subtle element known as akasa (ether). From this came vayu (air), and from air came tejas (light) and agni (fire). From fire came ap (water). From water came prithvi or earth, which yielded plants. In turn, from plants, food and from food the bodies of all creatures.

Plants, it must be noted, are the effects of the interaction of the element earth with the other four elements of creation. So the virtues belonging to all five of the elements reside in food that is wholesome. Such food is considered positive, or sattvic. A live organism like the human body can only be nourished by food that is full of the qualities of life and light, not with dead carcasses. Natural hygiene prescribes fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains that have been directly exposed to the five natural energy systems or elements. They should be eaten in pure, unadulter ated form-untreated and without preservatives whenever possible. When not possible, the foods should be cooked conservatively.

Back of the Book

This book is perhaps one of the few cook books which can be read with interest even by those who have no interest in cooking! The reason is that the book does not merely cater to the palate but also to the spirit. The author tries to project a new way of life rather than a few new recipes. Food is a necessary evil or a necessary delight, depending on whether you eat to live or live to eat. Whatever the choice, food would be doubly delightful if it was capable of evolving the individual at the same time as giving delight to the mind. This is why this book is unique since it endeavours to do both. It also shows us how food can be both tasty and healthy at the same time.

In olden times, children were named after Gods, so that each time we called them, unconsciously we would also be repeating a mantra. Here many of the recipes are called after the name of Krishna and other by various aspects of yoga. Just the repetition of these names would elevate our level of consciousness.

This is thus a cook book with a difference. The food in this book, not only tastes divine but it also gives us a taste, for the Divine!