Ahar or Diet: Selections from “The Wheel of Life” by Sant Kirpal Singh Ji (vegetarian), Part 1 of 2

Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj was a disciple of the well-known Master of Beas, Hazur Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji. They met in 1924 in the Ashram of Baba Sawan Singh Ji on the banks of the Beas River. In the Master, Kirpal Singh Ji recognized the luminous form He had seen during the seven previous years in His meditation. Hazur Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji initiated Him into the spiritual discipline of Surat Shabd Yoga, and from then on, Kirpal Singh Ji dedicated His life to reaching the summits of spirituality. Today, we present to you excerpts from one of His books, “The Wheel of Life.”

“The law of karma is nature’s unseen method of keeping the world in its iron grip so as to keep it peopled and going. It, therefore, becomes all the more necessary that man should guard against contracting eating habits thoughtlessly, heedlessly, and indiscriminately. As we cannot do without food, we must select at least such articles of diet as may prove the least harmful in our spiritual pursuit. Our diet should not contract for us unnecessary karmic debts, which it may be possible to avoid with a little care.”

“According to the moral, social, and spiritual codes of conduct, one must not interfere with the lives of any animal in God’s creation. In India, this standard of living is enunciated as Ahimsa or non-injury to all living creatures. This led to the vegetarian diet as contradistinguished (distinguished by contrasting) from the non-vegetarian diet.”

“The Sattvic foods and simple living are conducive to the development of the highest culture or civilization. We must remember that food is made for man and not man for food.”

“Those who resort to free and uncontrolled eating, live to eat and not eat to live. Their aim in life is hedonistic and their slogan is ‘eat, drink, and be merry.’ They indulge headlong in what they call the sweet pleasures of life. When blessed with small powers of concentration, they direct all their energies (mental and physical) towards glory of the little self in them, the egoistic mind. Man is pleased to term this course of action as the higher reaction of civilization. The Masters of the highest order strictly prohibit this sort of living to those seeking the knowledge of the spirit in man and the final liberation of the soul from the shackles of mind and matter.”