Dadaji arrived at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, A woman who was at the Airport to greet Dadaji, commented that He seemed so fit, healthy, and young. She asked his age, saying she could not believe it, that he looks thirty years younger than His actual, chronological age.
That evening in an apartment high above Manhattan, someone asked what diet and exercise had to do with finding God.
Dadaji, who was dressed in a plain lungi, which is a floor length tube of cloth tied at the waist, and a T-shirt, lit a cigarette and sipped His tea. His appearance is not the usual costume or picture of the "Indian Holy Man." Usually they wear orange cloth, beads, ash and paint on their faces and bodies. They do not take tea, have strict dietary restrictions, and never look at, mix with, or touch women.
Dadaji responded, "Funny it is. Freeman here, takes only fruits, vegetables, and some rice and grains. He does not smoke. Dadaji has no restrictions now, although for many years he took vegetables and fruits only.
"Limitations in diet are all mind function. Diet has no connection with God or Spirit. The spirit never gets hungry, nor can it ever fast. In every type of food, there is what is called jiv or life force. So Dadaji tells you whatever you eat, it is alive, it is of God. When you breathe, when you scratch your arm, you are killing so many small beings. Do not be a vegetarian because some Guru tells you to, or because you think it will make you holier or closer to God. This is absurd, it is a kind of ego. If it is your taste or preference, to take certain types of foods, this is alright, but remember it has no connection with God.
While you are here in this body, it is your temple to live in. You must learn how to care for it properly. Certain foods are healthier for the body than others. If you have an automobile, you find which are proper products to make it run smoothly. You do not put milk into the gas tank. So it is with the body. You cannot eat sugar, salt, chemicals, sweets, whiskey all day, everyday and be heal thy. Use common sense, and listen to your body. It will tell you which foods help you to keep a healthy body.
About fasting, this also has nothing to do with God. This is only for the purpose of health. One should have proper guidance in fasting, for this can be dangerous to the health. It also, can be very beneficial in cleansing and healing the body.
Remember that the Supreme is feeding you what you really live on, twenty-four hours each day. You say when you eat only vegetables and fast, your mind is clearer to perceive Truth. How can this be so, for you cannot fast your whole life? This is a belief of the mind, which is false.
"When you take God's Name, listen constantly to it within,, automatically your body and mind will be led to the diet which works best for you.
The Gita says: 'Yoga is not meant for the one who eats too much, nor who eats too little, nor who is too addicted to sleep, nor even to wakefulness. For the one who is temperate in food and recreation, who is restrained in actions, whose sleep and waking are regulated, there ensues for that one yoga, which destroys all sorrows.'
Not Krishna, nor Buddha, nor Jesus ever spoke about diet other than saying one should practice right diet. This differs in different parts of the world. It is a part of action and reaction.
Dadaji will tell you that fresh fruits and vegetables are the natural vitamins and should be used as much as possible in the diet. Red meat is hard for the body to digest. Alcohol irritates the organs of the body and gives trouble to the mind."
Tea habits, light and cigarettes are not heal thy although Dadaji takes two cups of tea each day, and a few mild cigarettes. This was not started until He was seventy years of age, so it is alright.
When you have controlled appetite and diet and have made friends with these senses, they too will help you to love and to enjoy this life and body that God has
given to you.
About exercise, again be careful. First of all, exercise is a physical thing and has no connection with the Spirit.
These are mind and bodily functions. Yoga postures, or asanas, have no connection to awareness of God. This is true, even though some say the 'in tune' body can more realize God, than the one that is not tuned properly. This too, is absurd. God is with you. What is there to realize? The only thing to tune in to is the love God is giving you twenty-four hours each day.
However, exercise is important for the body to help you do your work and take care of your responsibilities. Practicing yoga, must be done with a well-informed teacher. Many people experience trouble from doing yoga exercises that are not proper for their physical condition.
Dadaji briskly walks six miles each morning. Bicycling and swimming are also very natural exercises which will not hurt you, and will be beneficial to your health. There are certain life juices, which must be stirred up each day by your daily activity. These natural exercises, done regularly keep your body functioning naturally. "Dadaji fee1s that jogging is not good for most people. It is not natural,
unless you are trained as a runner.
Proper footwear, proper surface, and proper technique are necessary. The immediate result of jogging may be satisfactory, but after some years, your heart will be put into trouble. Many Doctor's today are treating only jogging injuries and it has become a specialized area in the health care industry."
Dadaji at his advanced age, eats simple foods, walks each day, and has an excess of energy. He travels around the world, seeing many people each day.
Dadaji's daily diet and exercise schedule is like this:
4:30AM- awaken, go walking for 2 hours, return and bathe
8:00AM - breakfast of fresh fruits, dry wheat bread, and milk
1:00 PM - lunch of vegetables, rice, and curd (yogurt)
Rest for 2 or 3 hours.
6:00 PM - snack of homemade cottage cheese
12 :00 midnight - dinner of fish, rice, and vegetables
Retire for the night.
We have no permanent business here in this body, on this earth. We are pilgrims, who are invited for a little while. We have not come to deny the body of it's food, or the senses of their pleasures, or the mind of it's thought, or the body of it's work. We have come to taste God's Love and Peace. We have come to make the body, senses, and mind our servants to help us to love the Supreme A 1 mighty. Be careful that~ they do no become your Masters, instead.
BEING A SAINT OR MONK HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GOD,
BUT WITH ACCEPTANCE BY TRADITION
The monk, who locks himself away to pray to God and to fast, is not doing this because they want God. They do this because they have not learned to be 'in tune' with their body naturally.
In the name of seeking God, when people imagine themselves to be seekers, they are usually looking for an easier solution to some situation in their life.
They will find trouble after trouble and go from place to place and never find satisfaction or peace. Accept your destiny, your body itself is destiny.
Take care of it properly."
JUST TO HAVE HUMAN FORM IS ALREADY A GREAT JOY.
TO KNOW THERE IS ONLY GOD IS INCOMPARABLE JOY.
There is with you a knower, a consciousness that really can tell you what is proper and improper. If you can be quiet, or quiet your mind for a few minutes, you will hear this best friend directing the symphony of your life. This Divine consciousness comes naturally, when you are no longer the thinker or the doer.
Learning to enjoy God's food and senses, and putting the mind to proper, joyful work, is another way of loving the Divine. Many so called 'holy' persons have counted the years of 'religious' life, of austerities, worship, and penance. Yet they have not spent even one day in the life and world of God.
I will tell you something about the Bhagavad Gita. This is a story about a war and warriors, but no one has understood what the war is and who the warriors are. This Gita takes place on a battlefield which represents the continual battle going on within each person, every hour of every day. The warriors represent the senses and desires in battle with the Divine.
The story is told to a blind King. Most of us are like the blind King, we are confused and unable to see what is happening on the battlefield of our life, because we are so caught up in its daily skirmishes. The blind King would like the war to end, just as we would.
The narrator of the story is Sanjaya, who represents perception. This perception is impersonal and can in Truth, tell the story as it actually is happening. Sanjaya is not distorted by dualities and prejudices.
Dadaji is telling you to discover that Sanjaya or perception is within you.
When you accept this, the real meaning of life and duty will be revealed to you.
The blind King is not impartial, he wants to know what 'his' people and others are doing. This sense of 'mine' is your sense of not wanting to give up even those habits and superstitions that are causing the battle and suffering to continue.
In this day of modern science, the minds develop new technologies which are accompanied by new complexities. New tensions and conflicts, new warriors appear on the battlefield. So this teaching is needed more than ever today.
The whole dialogue in the story takes place in a chariot in the middle of the battlefield, while both armies wait.
Arjuna represents not a person, but the human mind that is active, alert, knowing
it's capabilities and limitations. Krishna represents Divine Mind.
Arjuna hears the conches and trumpets and these call his attention to what is going on. So today we have all the trumpets of modern civilization calling and demanding our attention. Most of you are confused, yet even the confusion is vague until you are drawn up into the middle of the battlefield and asked to choose sides.
The decision is difficult, since in both armies we find those who are near and dear to us. We can clearly see both sides, both ways.
At this point, the bow and arrows slip from Arjuna's hand. Not because he is a coward, he has bravely fought many battles before. So it is with your mind, it is not a coward, it too has fought many battles, losing some and winning some. But now, seeing something beyond, Arjuna throws away his instruments of war. Just
as you throw away your mind and ask, 'Oh, Lord, let thy Will be done. Let thine and mine be One Will.'
Sometimes you look for the solution, but are not prepared to pay the price. To win your war with the Divine Mind, with Truth, against Truth, the price is total, Unconditional surrender. We usually look for a solution that will not be so life shaking, that will permit some continuity of the old ways. Arjuna is ready not just to modify his ways but to surrender to the Supreme Divine Will. He wants to do battle no more. He has a willingness to accept Peace.
Then, the problems sometimes come for you. When you see in the Divine Will the fulfillment of your own desires, you go along willingly. If you do not see what you want in this way, you resist, renounce, and try to flee from the inevitable. Then things will become magnified, and you will be left only with those remnants of the past you cling to, justifying your actions by rationalization.
Arjuna says he is confused and asks Krishna for the best way to seek refuge in the Lord. Arjuna wants Krishna to make the decision, for he himself is indecisive. Most today do not know what to choose. So you try to escape the decision by your involvement in sensual distractions. But the more you try to hide in distractions, the more you are forced to finally make a choice.
To better know yourself, is to better know God. To better know God, is to know that God is not to be understood, as this would reduce the unlimited to the limited.
This would simply make God a mental concept about food, exercise, or some other techniques and methods used to become 'God-realized.'
"Freeman tells a story about someone standing up in a church and testifying that a war was going on inside them. A white dog and a black dog were doing battle. He clearly stated the white dog would win. When asked how he knew this dog would win, the person stated, 'I have been feeding the white dog.'
God is feeding you with Mahanam. Always in turn you feed God by remembering and taking God's Divine Name.
GOD DOES NOT FILL, BUT INSTEAD TAKES AWAY CRAVING FOR MATERIAL
AND SENSUAL NEEDS.
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