The Upanishads Are Full of Fibre: Find Out What I Mean
How cleaning our bodies and cleaning our inner selves are connected
The Upanishads Are Full of Fibre: Find Out What I Mean - AI Image by Author (Microsoft Designer)
One day, while I was thinking deeply and drinking my healthy afternoon shake made with oat milk, almonds, carrots, basil, and coffee, I had a weird intuition: there's a good match between how fibre works in our body and how the Upanishads affect our consciousness. This idea wasn't just strange- it helped me understand how our physical health and inner growth are connected.
The Upanishads are ancient philosophical texts from India, written between 800 and 400 BCE. They explore profound questions about life and existence. The word "Upanishad" comes from Sanskrit, meaning "to sit down near". It brings to mind an image of students sitting close to their teacher, listening attentively. This method of passing on wisdom emphasises the gradual nature of learning, requiring patience and dedication.
Bodies
As I thought about this old way of learning, I realised it's like how fibre works in our bodies. Fibre, which is important in our food, slowly makes a gel in our gut that slows down how fast we take in sugars. This slow process keeps our blood sugar steady and helps our body work smoothly, stopping the ups and downs that can make us feel bad.
In the same way, the Upanishads work on our individual consciousness, making a kind of "spiritual gel" that slows down how quickly we get caught up in what we see, hear, and feel right now. This slowing down doesn't mean we ignore life, but it helps us understand things better. It lets us look at our thoughts and feelings without getting too wrapped up in them, helping us connect better with who we are deep down.
"The infinite is bliss. There is no bliss in anything finite. Only the Infinite is bliss. One must desire to understand the Infinite."
(Chandogya Upanishad. 7.23.1)
Time and effort
Learning from the Upanishads, like getting used to eating more fibre, takes time and effort. At first, we might feel overwhelmed by the deep ideas or find it hard to change what we eat. But if we keep at it, our body and individual consciousness get used to it, and we start to see more and more good things happening.
The Upanishads don't just slow down how we react to our senses, they also help clear our inner awareness of bad thoughts, wrong ideas, and old habits that stop us from growing inside. In the same way, fibre doesn't just control how we take in sugars, it also helps clean out our bodies. This shows how cleaning our bodies and cleaning our inner selves are connected.
Spiritual practice
Thinking about this, I started to see my spiritual practice differently. Choosing to eat foods with lots of fibre became a way of respecting my body. And studying the Upanishads became an important food for my spirit, a way to understand things better and feel more connected to life.
This idea also made me think about how important it is to have balance and patience when we're trying to grow. Just like a good diet isn't only about fibre, a good spiritual life isn't just about studying the Upanishads. It's about mixing different practices, experiences, and teachings to help us grow in all ways.
And...so?
Seeing how the body and individual consciousness are connected like this moved me. I realised that taking care of our bodies by choosing good food helps us grow spiritually. And growing spiritually by doing conscious practices can help our body stay healthy. It's like a circle of feeling good that covers every part of who we are.
This surprising connection between fibre in food and the Upanishads has shown me a new way to think about being healthy in body and spirit. It reminded me how important it is to be patient, keep going, and stay balanced when we're looking after our bodies and trying to grow inside. The path to becoming wiser isn't separate from our daily life but is part of everything we do. I hope we can all find, in this mix of old wisdom and new understanding, the key to living in harmony with ourselves and the world around us, feeding both our body and our consciousness with the same care and love.
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