Food - a very important source of success

Being successful in life is very important. In general, success brings joy and peace. Success is contagious too. Success of one person inspires others to follow that path. And that is why one should take every effort to be successful in life.

Success is about utkarsha. It is about gradually rising to something better than current status - in terms of wealth, in terms of emotion, in terms of satisfaction and in terms of consciousness, till one achieves highest possible state of consciousness.

Success is a journey. If choice of destination and the choice of transportation is correct then the journey assures not only timely arrival to the destination but it also assures that one will enjoy all the pleasures from the attractions along the route.

However, journey of success depends on many factors. First, a good health – mental and physical. Second, blessings from everybody around. That is why success is a collective and cooperative effort.

And that is where importance of food comes in. Good food is a source of many things that help in achieving overall success in life – a good physical health, a good mental health, and even good relationships. To understand why food is important source of success we need to understand three important processes related to food, namely – earning food, preparing food and consuming food and also the difference between human and animal. Why do we need to understand difference between human and animal? Achieving human body after going through many animal births is in itself a step in overall success. So the next expected step is obviously not going back to animal body but rising above human.

As per wise people, there are four instincts which are common to humans and animals – ahaar (instinct to consume food), nidra (instinct to sleep), bhaya (instinct to defend) and maithun (instinct to have sexual intercourse).

The only instinct that differentiates humans from animals is the instinct to follow dharma (eternal code of conduct). If this instinct is missing, then there is no difference between human and animal. Having a physical body, these four instincts cannot be avoided, but only when these instincts are satisfied as per dharma then that consumption qualifies as human way of consumption.

Taking example of food – eating when hungry is an instinct common in human and animal, but satisfying hunger for food after first offering food to God is dharma and that differentiates human from animal. This differentiation is not to indicate that humans are superior to animals, but it indicates the opportunity that humans have to rise and achieve higher status by following dharma.

Now back to the three processes related to food.

Earning food – first, food has to be earned through honest ways. Food earned through dishonest ways cannot bring success.

Preparing food - food should be prepared with good thoughts. Thoughts have great impact on food and it can affect the health of all who consume that food.

Consuming food -And finally food should be offered to God before consuming it.

Saints recommend a very simple way of offering food to God.

Before partaking food just chant the name of God, which is free and does not require much effort. This way, food is offered to God and it automatically helps to perform yadnya which is the main cause of success. In fact, not just when partaking food but one should chant the name of God even while earning as well as preparing food. By chanting the name of God the action gets transformed into yadnya karma.

As mentioned above, success is about gradual rising to higher status. And so, it is very interesting to understand how Gods achieved there Godly status. Scriptures say that Gods achieved their godly status by performing Yadnya. Yadnya is the main dharmic activity.

Every activity can be transformed into yadnya by chanting name of God before and after performing the activity. Yadnya is the way to success.