DAAJI explains why a plant-based diet is good for your health and well-being, and for the planet. Some of the reasons may surprise you. Yogic science is very comprehensive on this subject, and now medical science is catching up. Daaji then challenges us all to do an experiment for three months.
Studies show plant-based diets reduce the risk of
heart disease, diabetes, dementia, high blood pressure,
obesity, some cancers, and more.
—David Suzuki
While we ourselves are the living graves
of murdered beasts,
how can we expect any ideal conditions
on this Earth?
—George Bernard Shaw
Dear friends,
If you wish to do something positive for the planet, and for your own health, you may want to consider eating a plant-based diet. Excessive meat-eating is a luxury that our species can no longer afford if we are to address the climate crisis and our chronic health diseases. I’m not talking about tribes like the Inuit in Alaska, where meat eating is a necessity, but those communities that have access to fresh vegetables and fruit throughout the year.
An Oxford University study published in 2023 (Scarborough et al.) demonstrates that people eating a plant-based diet significantly improve the health of the planet. “The study linked dietary data from 55,504 people—vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters, and meat-eaters—with food-level data on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, water use, eutrophication risk, and potential biodiversity loss from a review of 570 life-cycle assessments covering more than 38,000 farms in 119 countries.”
Vegans had 25% of the dietary impact of high meat-eaters on greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and eutrophication, 34% of the impact for biodiversity loss, and 46 % of the impact for water use. Given that food systems create about a third of global emissions, and are responsible for 70% of freshwater use and 78% of freshwater pollution, these findings are highly important. And methane emissions were 93% lower for plant eaters than high-meat eaters!
Their conclusion: a shift in the way people eat and drink will have the greatest overall effect, even though other ways to reduce food system impacts are needed, e.g. reducing food waste, increasing sustainable and regenerative agriculture, and supporting local food production.
Another study published in the European Heart Journal in 2023 demonstrated that “plant-based diets can play a significant role in reducing blocked arteries, thereby lowering the risk of heart and blood vessel diseases, such as stroke and heart attacks.”
Plant-based diets can play a significant role in
reducing blocked arteries, thereby lowering the
risk of heart and blood vessel diseases,
such as stroke and heart attacks.
Today we look to science for answers, but from ancient times, sages of all cultures and eras have given special attention to eating lightly, reducing their footprint on the Earth, and taking minimum input and giving maximum output. They have defined morality as the care and conservation in the use of all resources, including food and water. The yogic science of Ayurveda is based on this approach.
Many famous people have been vegetarian, for example, Leonardo da Vinci, who said, “If you are, as you have stated, the king of the animals… why not help other animals, rather than take their offspring to feed your gluttony?”
Food is prana, a source of energy. Not only does it nourish the physical body, but the effect spreads through all three bodies of the human system—the physical body, subtle body (mind), and causal body (soul).
Food is part of our energetic relationship with the environment, and a wise person will not disturb one atom of the universe unless it is necessary, because of their respect for all life. Nothing is wasted. This creates the lightest human footprint, and an attitude of living every moment in tune with Nature, content with Nature’s bounty in whatever form it is available.
My teacher and guide, Ram Chandra of Shahjahanpur (Babuji) offers the following advice:
“Food should be cooked neatly and cleanly in a proper manner. That is the hygienic point, but if it is sattvic and is cooked in constant remembrance of God, its effect will be surprising. And if it is taken meditating all the while on God, it will cure all kinds of spiritual diseases and remove things which hinder our progress.”
To minimize our human
footprint, we can choose to
eat plants, and so cause the
least pain possible to other beings.
What is sattvic food? Sattvic qualities are pure, natural, vital, energy-containing, clean, conscious, true, honest, wise. A sattvic diet reflects Ahimsa, meaning not harming other beings. It leads to moderation in eating, and regular fasting is also done to detoxify the system.
A sattvic diet emphasizes seasonal foods—fruits, nuts, seeds, oils, ripe vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and plant-based proteins. Dairy products can be included when the cows are fed and milked according to regenerative principles. Many people adopt a plant-based diet after understanding how food impacts their health, and how animal farming is destroying the environment.
Consciousness studies add a deeper perspective: consciousness is the canvas upon which prana plays, including in the food we eat, and animals have a different level and quality of consciousness than plants.
The yogic science of the three bodies of minerals, plants, animals, and humans shows us how it is beneficial to eat light sattvic foods for the evolution of our consciousness. Animal foods are heavier in vibration, whereas plant foods maintain the lightness of our whole system. And the lighter we become, the more we adjust to subtlety in everything we do.
Also, the bodies, minds and souls of plants are more closely bound together than in animals; and the more evolved the animal, the greater the separation and flexibility. The freer this tethering of the mind to the body, the more possibility there is of pain in death. To minimize our human footprint, we can choose to eat plants, and so cause the least pain possible to other beings.
The food we give to our bodies has a definite impact on our minds and souls. So, whether it is for the sake of your own health or the planet’s health, are you ready to experiment with a plant-based diet? You could try it for three months and see how you feel.
I wish you the all the best with this experiment,
Daaji
The food we give to
our bodies has a
definite impact on our
minds and souls.
Daaji
Kamlesh Patel is known to many as Daaji. He is the Heartfulness Guide in a tradition of Yoga meditation that is over 100 years old, overseeing 14,000 certified Heartfulness trainers and many volunteers in over 160 countries. He is an inn... Read More
