Scarcity and Abundance

Food plays a major role in allaying fear in the animal kingdom, and indeed, in Yoga, food is one of the main aspects we work with to overcome our obstacles. It is worth reminding ourselves that one of the key outer obstacles (kleshas) is our ‘fear of death’, with another being  ‘attachment’ where we need to learn to surrender and live the simple life.

In the Tantrik world, food is often associated with Ganesha, the elephant headed, corpulent, pot-bellied, god associated with pleasure and abundance. And also the remover of our inner obstacles. Ganesha then brings a balance between revelling in the world and progressing on our inner journey.

Ganesha tells us we need sustenance to take this journey, and that through sustenance we can shift our focus to wisdom (shifting from the lower mind to the higher mind), from muladhara chakra to the crown, from our basic instincts to our higher instincts, from scarcity and death to realisation and liberation.

But how do we go about doing this?

Patanjali in The Yoga Sutras tells us how we might go about doing this in Sutra 12, Abhyasavairagyabhyam tannirodhah, through repeated practice and vairagya (non-attachment). So the repeated practice of the discipline of building your energy, as Patanjali had already stated in Sutra 1 through the discipline of the body, breath and mind through Kriya Yoga and the 3 Principles of simple living, sattvic food, and sleep.

Further, in Sutra 13, Patanjali tells us, Tatra Sthitav yatno’bhyasah, that of the two (practice and vairagya) we should be fixed on our effort through continued practice (sadhana) thereby creating new habits. The staring point, then, is to boost our physical, vital (Pranic) and mental energy.

In Yoga, then, there are clear steps to follow, working from the outside to the inside; from the body to the mind. We work through our ‘energy layers’ (Koshas), so, focussing on our physical and subtle (mental) bodies (see my Blog Tantra Yoga and the 3 Bodies):

1.    Food intake.

2.    Asana practice (postures).

3.    Pranayama practice (breathing).

4.    Mantra practice (chanting).

5.    Meditation practice.

This way we purify the body and the mind.

This follows Patanjali’s 8 Limbs of Yoga where the first Niyama is Purity – we need to purify the body through the food we digest. Here we need to understand the concept of the 3 Gunas; Rajsic, Sattvic, Tamsic.

1.    Rajas is active, creative energy, and neutral (unless we consume too much in which case it develops the Ego).

2.    Sattvic is light, pure, operator energy.

3.    Tamas is dark, destructive energy (dead food).

If we think back to the 3 Principles of simple living, sattvic food, and sleep, we can see why there is such an emphasis on the food we eat (easy to eat / easy to digest – mostly vegetarian). There are 3 general guidelines for the food we eat:

1.    Eat local seasonal food.

2.    Eat when hungry.

3.    Eat what is good for your body.

Bringing it all together

Shiva gave Ganesha an elephant head as a symbol of the significance of not overeating (animals in their natural habitat don’t overeat, only human do). We do this due to our limited imagination which amplifies our fear of scarcity (see my Blog Imagination and Shiva-linga). Tantra Yoga offers us a path out of this repetitive lower mind cycle of thought, taking us to a place of vitality and wisdom.

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