Isha Foundation - A Taste of Well-Being: Sadhguru’s Insights for Your Gastronomics

A Taste of Well-Being A Taste of Well-Being Sadhgurus

First published in India in 2016 by Harper Element An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers India Copyright Isha Foundation 2016 P-ISBN: 978-93-5136-378-1 E-ISBN: 978-93-5136-379-8 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 Isha Foundation asserts the moral right to be identifi ed as the author of this work. The views and opinions expressed in this book are the authors own and the facts are as reported by them, and the publishers are not in any way liable for the same. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. HarperCollins Publishers A-75, Sector 57, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301, India 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF, United Kingdom Hazelton Lanes, 55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900, Toronto, Ontario M5R 3L2 and 1995 Markham Road, Scarborough, Ontario M1B 5M8, Canada 25 Ryde Road, Pymble, Sydney, NSW 2073, Australia 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007, USA Typeset in 11.5/14 Arapey Jojy Philip New Delhi 110 015 Printed and bound at Thomson Press (India) Ltd Contents The True Joy of Eating xi A Taste of Isha xiii JUICES AND TEAS Lemon Mint Juice Carrot-Pear Juice Papaya Juice Grape and Mixed Fruit Juice Banana Stem Juice Cucumber Mint Juice CantaloupeBanana Smoothie Jackfruit Cool Shake Tangy Mango Lassi Nannari Tea Lemongrass Ginger Tea Cinnamon Tea Hibiscus Flower Tea Rose Petal Flower Tea Ginger Tea Wheat Coffee Ginger Coriander Coffee (Sukku Coffee) NATURAL FOOD 19 SALADS Green Gram Sprout Salad Beans and Corn Salad Sweet Corn Salad Chickpea (Chana) Chaat Delight Broccoli-Cucumber Salad Contents Pasta Salad Beetroot Lemon Relish Sweet Apple Salad Pumpkin Salad Veggie Boost Palak and Mushroom Salad Palak and Fruit Salad Caribbean Salad Rose Salad Carrot Crunch Sweet Milky Salad Banana Fruit Salad Apple and Pineapple Salad Peanut Butter-Banana Salad INSIDE AKSHAYA THE ISHA KITCHEN 44 GRUELS AND GRAINS 47 OF KANJIS AND KALIS 48 Ragi Kanji (Finger Millet Gruel) Kavuni Arisi (Black Rice) Sweet Gruel Gasagasaa (Poppy Seed) Sweet Gruel Ragi (Finger Millet) Puttu Ragi (Finger Millet) Kali Kambu (Pearl Millet) Kali Urad Dal Palm Sugar Kali Moar Kali Wheat Rice Wheat Bisibelebhath Karnataka Puliyodhara PRANIC FOODS 65 CURRIES AND SUBZIS 70 Agathi Leaves Fry Agathi Leaves Sweet and Salty vi Contents Banana Flower Dal Fry Broccoli Fry Amaranth Fry Beans Dal Fry Aviyal (Mixed Vegetables) Ridge Gourd Koottu Snake Gourd Koottu Stuffed Okra Okra Masala Karnataka Vegetable Subzi Palak (Spinach) Subzi Groundnut Capsicum Subzi THE ENDLESS DEBATE: VEG OR NON-VEG? 92 KUZHAMBUS 95 Sodhi Banana Stem Sambar Fenugreek Kuzhambu Ginger and Coconut Kadhi Kadhi (Moar Kuzhambu) Pakoda Kuzhambu EKADASHI 105 EKADASHI DINNER 107 Papaya Slice Amla Chutney Kala Chana Sundal Vegetable (Poriyal) Rice Kanji TIFFINS AND CHUTNEYS 112 Appam (Hoppers) Green Dosa Ragi (Finger Millet) Dosa Ragi Palak and Vegetable Dosa vii Contents Ragi (Finger Millet) Idiyappam (String Hoppers) Sago Uppuma Maize Sooji Uppuma Bottle Gourd Muthiya (Steamed Dumplings) Apple-Tomato Chutney Butter Fruit (Avocado) Chutney Ridge Gourd Peel Chutney Toovar Dal Chutney Tangy Mango Chutney Mango-Curd Chutney Green Tamarind Chutney Groundnut Chutney Drumstick Leaf Chutney SNACKS AND SWEETS 138 Banana Roti Date Balls American-style Snack Mix Granola Banana Pancakes Praline Cashews (Vanilla Chikki) Spiced Orange Compote Banana Halwa Sooji Halwa Ash Gourd Halwa Coconut Mango Crisp Date Roll Elaichi Crme Butter Fruit (Avocado) Pista Pudding WATER: POISON OR ELIXIR OF LIFE? 157 TECHNIQUES 160 THE SIMPLICITY OF SALAD 161 SEASONING 170 viii Contents PROTEIN POWER GROUNDNUTS 174 SPROUTS THE POWER FOOD 176 JAGGERY THE MEDICINAL SUGAR 180 HONEY ENJOYING THE NATURAL SWEETNESS OF LIFE 182 IndexSadhguru 197 Isha Foundation 198 Isha Yoga Centre 199 Worldwide Centres 200 ix x The True Joy of Eating Sadhguru Food is life giving away its own life to make your life. If only you were aware that so many lives are giving up their own lives to sustain your own, you would eat with enormous gratitude.

If you eat with that kind of gratitude, you will naturally eat only to the extent that it is necessary. The food will behave in a completely different way in your system; the way you treat it is the way it treats you. Your consciousness is very important in determining how a certain food behaves in your system. Let us say two people are eating food with exactly the same levels of nourishment and their health and absorption rates are about equal. One person eats the food with joy while the other simply eats it as nourishment. The one who eats with joy will need much less food and will get better nourishment than the other person.

There is scientifi c evidence to prove this. Every human being who is a little sensitive to life always knows this. If you eat with gratitude and reverence, you will see whatever you eat will work wonderfully for you. The true joy of eating is that you are conscious of some other life willing to become a part of you, to merge and mingle with your own life and become you. This is the greatest pleasure a human being knows in some way something that is not him is willing to become a part of him. This is what you call love.

This is what people call devotion. This is the ultimate goal of the spiritual process. Whether it is lust, passion, devotion or the ultimate enlightenment, it is all the same it is just the scale. If xi A Taste of Well-Being it happens between two people we call it passion; if it happens with a larger group we call it love; if it happens much more indiscriminately we call it compassion; if it happens without even a form around you, it is called devotion; if it happens in its ultimate scale, we call it Enlightenment. This beautiful process of constant demonstration of the oneness of existence is happening at your mealtime every day. Food, eating, is a demonstration of the oneness of existence.

Something that was a plant, something that was a seed, something that was an animal or a fi sh or a bird, just merging and becoming a human being, is clear demonstration of the oneness of existence, of the hand of the Creator in everything that is. Make the simple act of eating into fulfi lling the will of Creation and the tremendous experience of knowing the joy of Union. xii A Taste of Isha Just a few decades ago, the way humans looked at food was largely infl uenced by local culture, tradition and seasons. Local produce, fast becoming a rare and expensive commodity, was once the natural diet of millions. What is now referred to as the slow food movement was just the way of the world. But now that we have moved into an era when everything under the sun is accessible to us, one would think that we would be better equipped to understand what we should or should not eat.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. The truth is, with the steady stream of half-baked research coming our way through online and print media, we have regressed to a state of confusion. Food products labelled healthy one day are abruptly dismissed as lethal the very next. Foods touted as nutritious and life-enhancing by one study are declared carcinogenic by another. The latest celebrity diet is always around the corner, waiting to be trashed by nutritionists.

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