In my last blog I wrote about the Master who told his disciple that he would be free when he viewed all the alms he received with the same equanimity – whether they were rotten bananas or the tastiest dishes from the king’s kitchen.
I received pushback.
One reader feared that rotten bananas posed health hazards.
Another asked why the disciple could not enjoy the royal banquet and ditch the rotten bananas. After all, monks had to eat. So why not enjoy good food when it came to them?
This reminded me about something that Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, the enlightened Indian sage, used to do.
Indian cuisine is elaborate and certain dishes are designed to be eaten with other dishes. Thus, rice is mixed with sambar, a liquid gravy with lentils and vegetables, and eaten. Devotees would prepare delicacies of all kinds for him, and these would be served on his leaf platter.
Ramana Maharshi would mix everything together and eat it. This is the equivalent of mixing Tabasco sauce and mustard relish with black forest cake.
The Master was making a point. Relishing good food and craving it simply reinforces your identification with the body. And this is the identification that keeps you bound and prevents you from realizing that your true nature is pure awareness.
Here is the catch – you cannot volitionally give up your taste preferences. When you get rotten bananas, you will gag. When you get savory dishes from the royal kitchen, you will salivate.
What you can do is recognize that this is where you are. And, gradually, little by little, push to reduce your ever-so-strong preferences.
Remember, you can never give up desire.
Say you are a smoker. You can give up the actual smoking. But the desire lingers. Every time someone lights up in your presence, you will feel a twinge and wish you could have one too.
Desire has to give you up.
Think about this.
Peace!
