Eating Habits and Spiritual Growth

Someone found that a highly revered spiritual person took non-vegetarian food at times. People knew about it. Is it unusual? Is it shameful and unacceptable? Or is it something which shouldn’t raise our eyebrows?  

I think that what we eat is for our body. What we eat does impact our moods and our thinking, but may be not much when the food is taken in small quantity infrequently, which I believe the spiritual leader would be doing during certain part of his life... I think if one is highly spiritually enlightened, it doesn't matter what he ate. For example, if I don't eat for 5 hours I will feel hungry, troubled, and agitated. But the same won't happen to a person who has all his senses in perfect control; like a Yogi or a Sadhu. These people may still be stable and happy after being hungry for many hours. So it is not the food or its absence which would trouble me - it will be my inability to control senses which would do that. So I strongly believe that for evolved souls, these small matters don't impact them if they don’t want to be impacted by them.

Still there is an issue of sensitivity. I think evolved souls would be more sensitive than us. But sensitiveness is one thing and being affected by those is another. Highly evolved souls would be "aware" of all - even the little and small things surrounding them - but they won't be affected by them because of the "detachment" they experience all the time...

What do you think?

- Rahul