On 04-Aug-2016 10:54, "Deepa Mohan" <mohande...@gmail.com> wrote: > > And.... I am intrigued by the word "saivam" for vegetarian in Tamil. > Saiva would be a follower of Siva...so how does that go with > vegetarianism? Many followers of Siva are staunch non-vegetarians.... > so is Saivam as opposed to Vaishnavyam (followers of Vishnu)? The > association of certain foods/diets with certain religion is most > interesting. Would like some information on this word and its origin.
Saivam means, of Siva. Now, we know Siva means auspicious. So, we could call it auspicious and inauspicious food respectively. Originally this word didn't mean the whole of vegetarianism, but only foods high in prana shakti, i.e. food that doesn't produce rajasic or tamasic gunas. Per this definition, coffee or tea would most definitely be asaivam. Any food that calms us down, makes us kind and compassionate, allows us to dwell in our true nature is sattvic. Any food that makes us very active, produces irritability, anger or takes us into the external world is rajasic. Food that turns us dull, depressed, sleepy, lazy and makes us unconscious of both internal and external worlds is tamasic. Ultimately we are each said to have the capability to be Siva. Unassailably resident in our true nature, untouched by life, death, the rajasic and tamasic forces. This calls for extensive development of sattva. Including in friends, colleagues, family, food, environment and any other mental inputs we consume. Since it's pretty hard to arrange all those around us to be sattvic, the time honored tradition is to retreat to the Himalayas as a hermit and rarely run into another human being for years. This isn't exclusively a Hindu concept, the Buddhists call this style of development manifesting Buddha nature. Some Christians call it Christ consciousness, but given that it didn't go so well for Meister Eckhart when he declared he had the capacity to be Christ, I won't say this is a pan-Christian view. The desert fathers retreated to the desert for much the same reason as the Hindu mystics' choice of Himalayas.
