Source Text
Self-realization is the knowing – in body, mind, and soul – that we are one with the omnipresence of God; that we do not have to pray that it come to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God’s omnipresence is our omnipresence; that we are just as much a part of Him now as we will ever be. All we have to do is improve our knowing. PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA
When the vessel of the body-mind complex is strengthened and the body turns into a luminescent vehicle of Light, it serves as a doorway to open up the six koshas (layers of body-mind-I AM complex) to the witness consciousness of the presence and eventually the Divine Presence. This then leads to sankalpa and nirvakalpa samadhi (I AM THAT awareness), known in the Kabbalah as Deveikut. Eventually, we stabilize these experiences of I AM THAT into a consistent state of awareness. This is called Self-realization, or Liberation – I AM THAT awareness.
As we probe deeper, we understand that we are a human crystal functioning as a series of synchronous vibrations between the solid crystals and the liquid crystals of the human
body. This takes us to the understanding of bioenergetic assimilation. It ultimately helps us develop an insight into the chemistry of stress, alchemy, and meditation.
Veganism Is the Key From a Biblical perspective, veganism (a diet free of flesh, dairy, and eggs) was given as the dietary key to spiritual life right at the beginning of the Torah in Genesis 1:29: “Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole Earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.’” Ten generations later, when Noah was leaving the ark after the great flood and there was no plant food that Noah could find immediately to eat, God said, “Every swarming creature that lives shall be yours to eat; like grass vegetation I have given you all” (Genesis 9:3). This was not a command to eat meat, but a dispensation for the immediate situation. In Leviticus 3:17, the commandment is given that “it is a statute to time indefinite for your generations, in all your dwelling places; you must not eat any fat or any blood at all.” This is particularly good advice today, since fat from flesh foods has been implicated in so many degenerative diseases and is a major storage site for pesticides, herbicides, and other environmental toxins that enter the food chain. Before Noah, the first ten patriarchs lived an average of 912 years. In the ten generations between Shem (Noah’s son) and Abraham, the average life span dropped to 317 years. Eating flesh cut their life spans by two-thirds.
Flesh food creates a tamasic (dull and heavy) effect on the physical body and mind. It clogs the channels of the subtle body, the 72,000 nadis through which the Kundalini needs to move freely to do its spiritualizing work, and tends to make the mind insensitive.
A vegan way of life (no flesh foods, eggs, dairy, leather, or other animal by-products) actively creates six aspects of ahimsa: (1) compassion and non-cruelty toward animals; (2) preserving the Earth and its ecology; (3) feeding the hungry; (4) preserving human life; (5) preservation of personal health; (6) inspiring peace.
Flesh food, being at the top of the food chain, has about fifteen times more pesticides and herbicides than vegetable food.7 Dairy products have about five times more pesticides and herbicides than vegetarian food.8
AI Summary
Spiritual Nutrition by Gabriel Cousens Md presents key insights from the Yoga tradition. The 8 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 8 are particularly representative.
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