April 25

“Food has to be taken as we take medicine.”

–Gandhi (Yervada Mandir, p. 11)

Before the pharmaceutical cooptation of our health; before the patenting of seed, and pesticides and packaging stale foods; before making it illegal to feed those without homes, there was food itself–fresh and alive.

When Gandhi talks about food as medicine, he’s not just asking what we eat, but how we eat and how the food was prepared. Food is sacred, and has a purpose. It nourishes the body to make it strong instrument to serve the rest of life. When we prepare food, we can prepare it with love in our hearts, wishing for the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of those who will eat it. When we eat, we can eat mindfully–becoming aware of how food feels, tastes and affects us, while honoring what our bodies really need. When we share food, we can approach it as a sacred ritual through which we nourish our bodies and our souls. We can speak over the food with appreciation and love before we begin to eat and digest it. We might repeat our mantram a few times before starting, or even recite a mindfulness prayer that shows how our food is interrelated with all of life, like this one a friend taught me by Thich Nhat Hahn (and even preschoolers can learn it by heart, I’ve seen it). Maybe you would like to learn, and use it, too:

 

As we make ready to eat this food we remember with gratitude the many people, plants, animals, tools, air and water, sky and earth, turned in the wheel of living and dying whose  exertion provides our sustenance this day.

May we, with the blessing of this food, turn our hearts to the one heart of the world in awareness and love and never stop making effort for the benefit of others.

 

 

Experiment in Nonviolence:

Prepare a healthy, nourishing meal for someone today.

 

Daily Metta 2015, a service of the Metta Center for Nonviolence, is a daily reflection on the strategic and spiritual insights of Mahatma Gandhi in thought, word and deed. As Gandhi called his life an “experiment in truth,” we have included an experiment in nonviolence to accompany each Daily Metta. Check in every day for new inspiration. Each year will be dedicated to another wisdom teacher.