Q: Is taking very little food helpful in controlling the senses?
The Mother: No, it simply exasperates them—to
take a moderate amount is best. People who fast easily get exalted and may lose
their balance.
Q: If one takes only vegetarian
food, does it help in controlling the senses?
The Mother: It avoids some of the difficulties
which the meat eaters have, but it is not sufficient by itself.”
Q: Sweet Mother, if the agony of a
chicken can attack us, so too can that of a beetroot or a carrot, can’t it?
The Mother: For all that, I believe the chicken is more
conscious than the beetroot. (Laughter) But I ought to tell you my own
experience. Only I was thinking this was not something common.
In Tokyo
I had a garden and in this garden I was growing vegetables myself. I had a
fairly big garden and many vegetables. And so, every morning I used to go for a
walk, after having watered them and all the rest; I used to walk around to
choose which vegetables I could take for eating. Well, just imagine! There were
some which said to me, “No, no, no, no, no.”... And then there were others
which called, and I saw them from a distance, and they were saying, “Take me,
take me, take me!” So it was very simple, I looked for those which wanted to be
taken and never did I touch those which did not. I used to think it was
something exceptional. I loved my plants very much, I used to look after them,
I had put a lot of consciousness into them while watering them, cleaning them,
so I thought they had a special capacity, perhaps. But in France it was the
same thing. I had a garden also in the south of France where I used to grow
peas, radishes, carrots. Well, there were some which were happy, which asked to
be taken and eaten, and there were those which said, “No, no, no, don’t touch
me, don’t touch me!” (Laughter)
(CWM, Volume 6,
Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)
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