Midst of Summer: Three Modes of Material Nature

Lunchtime.

Something that everyone looks forward to. 

Well almost everyone.

I watched a video on ViewTube recently regarding school lunches in foreign countries such as the US. I learned how horrible the quality and conditions of the food can be. It was a huge contrast to Japan, where there are tasty snacks like Yakisoba Bread to wholesome meals like Katsu Curry which fills you up for the rest of the day. Thinking about it now, I really do miss the school lunches, not only were they tasty, but also cheap. 

Aside from lunch, even breakfast used to be a meal to look forward to. Every morning, Mother would prepare grilled fish, rice and miso soup ready on the dining table. The sweet aroma would then travel from the dining area up to the stairs and into my bedroom. It almost functioned like a natural alarm, a cue, it was time to wake up. 

Pleasant memories.

But...

It's different now. 

I am an adult.

Responsibilities, Loss of Identity and Work.

I wake up every morning with no motivation, nor appetite for breakfast. It's difficult to force a heavy meal early in the morning. I reached a point where I had to skip breakfast, and Mother was very sad to see me in such a state. Even now, she still insists on cooking me breakfast. 

I have been doing intermittent fasting it seems by skipping breakfast. 

Isn't skipping breakfast unhealthy?

We are programmed to think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that we must not skip it. 

But skipping breakfast is not as bad as it sounds. 

There are benefits to fasting as well.

The most notable benefits are weight loss, controlled blood sugar levels, and a stronger immune system. While the secret benefits of fasting are increased secretion of helpful hormones, anti-ageing, and availability of more bursts of energy.

How does this work?

Well, that's a science lesson for another day.

Then there are people who are fasting but they incorrectly break their fast. And if you don't know already the term 'breakfast' means breaking your fast from your last meal, which in most cases would be dinner. 

How does one incorrectly break their fast?

Well, when people break their fast with foods that are high in sugar or that are refined/processed carbs, it can instead spike their blood sugar and raise insulin levels leading to increased cravings for food. This causes fasting to be more harmful than helpful. Examples include cakes, pasta, pastries and white bread. 

How does one correctly break their fast then?

The correct way to break your fast would be by consuming vegetables and fats first. Many may think of the unhealthy fats from fried food from WcDonalds or SFC, but rather it's the healthy fats that are present in foods such as eggs, fish, olives, nuts and avocado. And vegetables do not have to be a boring salad either - I am not a fan of salad. An even easier option to break your fast is dried fruits. Dates are perfect, they are both tasty and full of nutrients, especially beneficial for prolonged fasts. 

There is a common misconception that fasting is a new trend, but it has existed for many thousands of years, and our ancestors had no choice but to fast while hunting and finding food. 

And had they not... 

Would the human race still have existed?

Food is now easy to acquire and mass produce in developed countries with the assistance of technology. While in developing countries and villages, people work hard both physically and mentally just to grow food. They only eat what they have harvested. Hence, obesity in developed countries can prove to be a big challenge despite the contrasting increase in life expectancy. 

There is a term everyone has probably heard of at least once in their life. 

'You are, what you eat.'

And this term could not be ever so true. Many people do not realise that the food that we eat heavily influences our daily lives from how we think to how we behave. This leads to the concept of three Modes of Material Nature. 

The world runs in three Modes of Material Nature. 

And everyone is influenced by it.

They are...

Mode of Goodness.

Mode of Passion.

And.

Mode of Ignorance.

In the Mode of Goodness, the characteristics and behaviours people may display are: 

They are full of joy.

They develop a clear mind.

They display kindness and selflessness. 

People constantly in this mode are usually Saints and Great Thinkers that you have read in the history books. There may be someone just across your street too, you never know. 

While in the Mode of Passion, the characteristics and behaviours people may display are: 

They are passionate about materialistic objects.

They are ambitious and workaholics. 

They may also be arrogant and always in hunger for something better to enhance their quality of life. But such things do not exist in this material world, the hunger they pose will never be satiated. 

Most of us fit into this category, the Mode of Passion. But we may also acquire characteristics and behaviours from other modes simultaneously.

And finally, the final mode, the Mode of Ignorance. In this mode, the characteristics and behaviours people may display are:

They are selfish.

They are ignorant and blinded by delusions.

They are lazy.

They are full of anger.

To sum it up, people in this mode are demoniac. 

Such personalities in this mode include drunkards, criminals and degenerates. 

And it's no surprise, we acquire these characteristics and behaviours from time to time.

But how does food relate to this?

Aren't we getting off the topic here? 

It's interesting for sure, but what about food?

The food that we eat, influences the characteristics and behaviours that we acquire from any of the three modes. Someone with a vegetarian diet is more likely to develop characteristics and behaviours from the Mode of Goodness than someone who eats something savoury and tasty. While a person who consumes something savoury and sweet is more like to develop characteristics and behaviours from the Mode of Passion. While someone who consumes a lot of meat and intoxicates themselves with alcohol and harmful objects is more likely to develop characteristics and behaviours from a Mode of Ignorance. 

Many would be quick to point out why people who consume vegetarian food are more likely to develop characteristics and behaviours from the Mode of Goodness. Well, this would lead to a whole other topic about food and its memories. 

Yes, the food that we eat has memories, even plants (vegetables). 

This does not mean just physical memories but memories beyond the physical realm. There are in total 8 layers of memories, the most recognizable memories are Conscious and Subconscious memories. While the rest of the layers are very intriguing, this includes Elemental, Atomic, Evolutionary, Genetic and Karmic Memory. You can pretty much get an idea of how they work based on their names. But Karmic Memory goes way beyond, and it cannot be explained with just simple sentences. 

To put it shortly, plants and their products contain fewer memories hence it does not affect us much during consumption. As a result, it helps us develop characteristics and behaviours from the Mode of Goodness. While if we were to consume complex structured living beings such as animals, their layers of memories can heavily impact us during consumption, leading to us developing characteristics and behaviours from the other modes. 

There is a huge science behind all of this, which most modern scientists do not know. This ancient knowledge is available for those who seek and cast aside their ego. If modern scientists did this more, there would be several breakthroughs. Surprisingly, scientists from the past did seek, which lead to the creation of technologies that we use today in our daily lives and even weapons such as the...

Atomic bomb.

"..."

Rolling back to food consumption. 

Is meat consumption that bad?

People say we need to consume meat to have a balanced diet and to acquire all the nutrients that we may not get from non-meat products. Especially proteins and amino acids which play a vital part in our everyday lives.

That argument is a bit silly, even vegetables provide these nutrients, maybe not as much as meat per gram. But the main takeaway from this is, people need to explore and try out other nutritious food too. 

The Internet has made it easier for all of us. 

Why waste such an opportunity? 

Not eating meat won't kill us, our ancestors did not have the facility to consume meat every day, yet they survived and passed on strong genes to continue their bloodline and see the history.

Now this may sound contradictory, but there are also times when people need to consume meat. This is dependent on the person's occupation and duties. Someone with a more physical role and duties is better suited for meat consumption. A warrior, in modern times, would include roles such as military, athlete and construction worker which demand a lot of physical effort and body recovery. While everyday people such as you and I, do not require much meat consumption. It is evident that eventually, our bodies fail to digest meat efficiently as we get older which as a consequence causes a lot of health problems. 

Not that our body was made for meat consumption in the first place. 

Humans have weaker stomach acid and longer intestines which are not suitable to digest meat efficiently while carnivorous animals have stronger stomach acid and shorter intestines leading to quick and efficient digestion. And if you are somewhat of an aspiring thinker, a vegetarian diet is probably best for you taking in mind the three Modes of Material Nature. Great Thinkers such as Pythagoras, Leonardo Da Vinci, Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein had some sort of vegetarian diet in place. And we all know how big of a contribution they have made to our human history. 

There was one great thinker who went by the name of George Bernard Shaw whose quotes struck me when I first came across them in a book.

'Animals are my friends... And I don't eat my friends.'

And.

'I do not want to make my stomach a graveyard of dead animals.'

These quotes pierced deep into my heart.

And the first response I felt was...

Guilt.

After all, animals are all souls like you and I, except they were unfortunate to not acquire a human birth in this life. They do not have the necessary consciousness to have free will, and they fall victim to their animalistic urges. Even humans despite having that facility of free will, aren't fully conscious and fall short of their urges. But those who are conscious or are growing conscious, do not need any advice nor need to be forced to understand what is right or wrong, they themselves understand what their body needs and eventually resort to a vegetarian diet. 

There are times when I consume meat-based food, I taste only the non-meat ingredients. It's weird but you could say it's just a way that my body communicates back to me on what is needed and what is not. I have started to reduce my meat consumption over the years and opted to go for a vegetarian diet a few days a week. The benefits were significant, I could definitely see myself developing the characteristics and behaviours of the Mode of Goodness more and more. 

Today is Monday, one of the days when I consume only vegetarian products, the other being Thursday. I brought in leftover veggie wraps which Mother had made the previous day. 

Nothing beats leftovers. 

I took out my lunch box and opened the lid.

"Woo woo, Kobayashi eating grass today." 

"Moo!"

Tanaka and Yamamoto joked around, with Yamamoto mimicking a cow.

"Shut it you two!"

"It's not grass, it's leftover veggie wraps. It's nice though, it has potatoes, peas and chilli sauce."

"Not gonna lie, that on second thought sounds good, Mr. Kobayashi!"

The ingredients in the veggie wraps piqued Tanaka's interest. 

"Ara Kobayashi-kun, I did not know you were a vegetarian?"

And now Sato-san too. 

"That's not it, Sato-san. I only go vegetarian sometimes. Which one of those days happened to be today. Haha..."

"Oh, I see. That's great, I sometimes go on a vegetarian diet myself too. It's nice isn't it?"

"Right?"

I was surprised Sato-san followed a similar routine. She did have an athletic body back in middle school, the hints of her diet now explained why.

"And what have you brought in today Ms Sato? Show us, show us!"

"It's a bit embarrassing. Hehe."

"Give me a second."

Out from her bag, she pulled out a large box. 

It was a three-layered bento box. 

That's a whole three-course meal right there. 

Does she really eat all this and keep such a figure? 

I was tempted to question Sato-san out of curiosity but it would be rude to do so bluntly.

"..."

"Wow Ms Sato, you quite a eater, aren't ya? Well, no harm, young boys and girls need to eat a lot after all."

"You are not too old yourself Tanaka!"

Tanaka came in clutch. Thank you for your sacrifice buddy.

"Is it? Hehe. I just got a bit overexcited about my first day, so I cooked a bit too much, please do help yourself."

Sato-san then unveiled her bento boxes. 

The first layer had plum rice with curry, the second layer had fried shrimp, katsu chicken and tamagoyaki. While the third layer had mini potato croquettes and vegetables. 

"This is premium-level stuff, Ms Sato!"

"Wow, you surely know how to cook Ms Sato, your future husband will be a lucky man! Haha!"

"Oh please Tanaka-kun. You making me blush."

Sato-san blushed at the compliment.

"You know what Ms Sato, maybe I should ask my girlfriend to make some too."

"Ara Tanaka-kun, you have a girlfriend?"

"Yes, Ms Sato. She is quite a cook herself, we have been going out for a while. My stomach is always full of love at home."

"You got yourself a keeper, Tanaka!"

"I agree with Kobayashi-kun here. Hehe."

"I know. Hope to seal the deal soon."

"Waaaah, how romantic."

"Oi Oi, ready to pen up the permanent contract already?"

"Yeah... She is my happiness, Mr Kobayashi. You will realise soon too." 

"Yeah... Hopefully." 

I sighed and looked to the side. Whilst I looked away, I caught a glimpse of Sato-san staring at me intensively. I switched my gaze directly to her eyes, and after a while, she flustered and looked away. 

"Uhm, shall we begin lunch? Ehehe."

Sato-san while flustered prompted the start of lunch. 

"Yes. Yes. Good call Ms Sato!"

"Don't be afraid to help yourself Tanaka-kun. You too, uhm Kobayashi-kun, please feel free have to some. I have some potato croquettes and vegetables if you would like."

"Ms Sato, you are such an angel."

"If that's fine with you, thanks a bunch Sato-san."

"Shame I could not try the rest... Haha..."

"Uhm. If you don't mind." 

"I could..." 

"I could make you some again, Kobayashi-kun."

"Oh no no no, that's fine. Please don't trouble yourself Sato-san. It's fine really."

"Don't worry Kobayashi-kun, I don't mind. Rather I feel happy when my food makes other people happy."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, now don't be shy and help yourself, Kobayashi-kun."

"Then please do, I'll looking forward to it!"

"Woo woo, husband and wife at work."

"Get a room you two, save it for home."

Tanaka teased our interactions.

"Waaaah. It's not like th-..."

Sato-san glanced at me.

"Ahhh."

Sato-san was fully flustered, her cheeks were bright red as cherry plums whilst she covered her face with her hands. 

"Tanaka stop teasing her."

"Hmmm. I am just telling the truth." 

"Well then, thank you for the food, Ms Sato."

Tanaka took a bite of the fried shrimp. After taking a bite, he stood still and made no movements.

"Uhm, Tanaka-kun was it not something of your liking?"

"Tanaka, you alright there bud?"

"..."

"Ms Sato, this fried shrimp..." 

"Is good"

"No..."

"It's SUPER!"

"You need to teach me and my girlfriend how to make this!"

"What do you say, Ms Sato, how about we all meet up together this weekend?"

"You can come along too, Mr Kobayashi!"

"Eh. Me too?"

"That's a lovely idea Tanaka-kun, let's do it."

"Yay."

Cute.

"Great, let's do it, Ms Sato!"

"Yeh!"

"Don't mind me having another bite Ms Sato!"

"Please help yourself, Tanaka-kun. Hehe."

Wait a minute...

Did I just get pulled into a...

Double date?

Wait whattt!!!